So you’ve decided to plan your next stay in a vacation rental – congratulations! You are in for a much more personal and individualized experience than you could ever expect to receive at a hotel. Your next question might be, “there are so many options, how do I find the right one?” That’s what we are here to talk about!
The Big Listing Sites
You’ve probably heard the names – Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO), HomeAway, AirBnb and others. Most of our discussion will apply to all listing sites, but I’ll be specific when necessary. The first thing I would suggest is to get familiar with a couple of the big sites. We’ll focus on VRBO and AirBnB during our discussion. VRBO and HomeAway are two different brands from the same company, so we’ll treat them as one.
Set Up Your Account Profile on the Listing Sites
When you first shopped your favorite online retailer, you set up an account right? This allows you to log in, check the status of your order, etc. The vacation rental listing sites are the same way. Go ahead and set up an account on AirBnB and VRBO before you plan to travel. Your account will need to be verified by the listing site and it can take a day or so for that to happen, so best to go ahead and get that done.
Focus on Your Needs First
It is tempting to go to one of the big listing sites, enter your destinationcity and start browsing. Maybe you’ve already done that. If you have, you probably were overwhelmed with all the available choices. Before you start browsing, it’s best to start thinking about what YOU want in a vacation rental accommodation.
Here are a few items you’ll want to discuss with your family or fellow travelers and agree upon before you start your search:
1. Destination – be as specific as you can. Become familiar with your destination city and get a sense of where you want to stay. Do you want to be downtown? On the Beach? Centrally located for easy access to different parts of the city?
2. Budget – There are many vacation rental options at every price level, so having a sense of what you expect to spend will help you focus on the subset of properties that will work best for you.
3. Travel Dates – This sounds kind of obvious, but put some thought into this and be as specific as possible. Some vacation rentals will be available on some dates and not on others, so entering specific dates will give you search results that are available for the dates you need.
4. Size of Your Group – how many are in your travel group? Think also about sleeping arrangements. Especially with larger groups of four or more, you’ll want to know who will share rooms and if shared or separate beds are desired.
5. Number of bedrooms and baths desired – this will depend on your group size, and is a key search criterion, so you’ll want to have this one nailed down for sure.
6. Amenities – make a list of amenities that are important. Is fast Internet WiFi important to your group? Cable TV? A fully equipped kitchen? Outdoor patio area? Outdoor barbeque grill?
Get Organized and Get Started
Ready, set, go! Get your listing site accounts setup and organize your list of needs. In our next installment, we’ll see how to use this to focus in on vacation rental properties that will be the best fit for you and your group.