How to Choose a Florida Vacation Rental

How to Choose a Florida Vacation Rental

by John Macrae

We have come to realize from chatting with our guests that on of their biggest challenges is how to choose the vacation rental villa that is right for them! This article reflects their experience and hopefully sharing it with you will make your choice easier...

Is a vacation rental villa right for me?? Whether you are seeking a magical Disney World Vacation or an active family holiday, a Florida vacation rental villa is one of the most flexible options available to you. Many visitors decide on a hotel or motel room which can appear to be the cheapest option but these have several disadvantages. As I'm sure you know if you wanted a suite of rooms in a hotel that offered all the facilities of a vacation rental villa, you would spend many hundreds of dollars per night! Limited space, limited bathrooms, neighbor noise etc - we've all been there! The convenience and space of a vacation rental villa not only make for a much more enjoyable vacation for everyone but when things go wrong these were an important factor for one of our guests when 3 of her 4 children became ill shortly after arriving. She was so pleased to have chosen a vacation rental villa with the space and convenience of 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms as it meant that the whole family was not wakened when some had to get up frequently during the night!

Convenienceis probably the biggest advantage of a vacation rental - you can come and go as you please and do what you like, when you like. You might feel like a day by the pool on your own when the rest of the family go out, and that's exactly what you can have - moreover, its you by the pool and no-one else to share it with - bliss! But its not just that. When you choose a vacation rental, you can get your favorite snack from the refrigerator when you want it. You can light the grill an cook up the meal you want - restaurant food can be a bit boring, not to mention less healthy and more expensive!

Location: This is another important factor in choosing a vacation rental! Its important to choose a luxury vacation rental villa that is close to the attractions that you will be visiting frequently. First-time visitors have little idea of the scale of the Orlando area and the whole thing can be more than a little daunting. Its made even more confusing by the vast choice of vacation rentals available and the lack of clear details on their location. We know that this has resulted in some families traveling long distances every day to get from their chosen location to their attraction of choice - not ideal! That's why we have clear links to maps from our vacation rental villa details pages. We want you to be able to plan your vacation and spend as little time as possible in the car!

Quality: We spent some time recently viewing and inspecting Florida vacation rentals. The pictures on their web sites presented the villa very well in most cases but it soon became clear that they had been taken a very long time ago. Many of the vacation rentals we saw were very tired, showed heavy wear and little attention to maintaining a comfortable environment for their guests. They were certainly far form the luxury vacation rentals they were being marketed as! These problems showed up much more in the properties where the owners had clearly taken little interest and were managed by property management agencies (Large or small, and who, in turn rent them to the large holiday companies at low rates). This is one reason why we update the pictures of our properties each year (several times a year in fact!). This gives our guests the confidence to know that what they see is what they will get. Whilst booking direct with the owner does not guarantee quality, it does give you the opportunity to ask if the photos on the site truly represent the condition of a particular vacation rental today.

Check in/out This is often overlooked as one of these things that has to be done but be careful. Check in and out is not usually at the villa! Its normally at the management company office where you have to wait in line with everyone else that booked through the same company. This means that you have to drive to and find the office from the airport. We know of offices that are over 15 miles from the vacation rental! OK - it doesn't sound far but after a long flight and in unfamiliar circumstances, it can be a challenge you could do without! Check the driving distances and times from airport to office and from office to your villa via the management company offices. (Be aware that if the office is in Kissimmee, it can be very busy and take a long time especially in the early evening).

In contrast, we have an electronic access system so our guests can drive direct to their chosen luxury villa and let themselves in. The benefit of this system is clear - and you have no keys to lose or hand back and you don't have the unnecessary hassle of an office to find.

Locality: What we mean here is the area surrounding the vacation rental. Careful examination of the photos of some villas will show where they have been doctored to hide any less desireable features. One of the favorites is to block out the lower areas of screened pool enclosures to hide the fact that there are many others very close to the villa. We do not enhance our photos. Check carefully or ask if the pool area is overlooked.

Games rooms Some vacation rental villas advertise a games room with all kinds of entertainments. If this is something that you want to have in your villa, be sure to inquire whether it is properly air conditioned. The reason for this is that some owners have simply locked the garage door and installed a carpet and a pool table or foosball table to make a games room. Its fine in December but impossible to use comfortably for most of the year.

Equipment Check whether the equipment you need is 'included' or 'available' and know the difference between these terms. Included usually means that the item is 'included in the rent' for the villa. Its important to know that 'available' usually means that the item is available but you will be expected to pay an extra charge for it. For example, a gas grill will cost you between $35 and $50 per week to hire (+ sales tax). A cot, baby seat or stroller can be the same each! That can make a significant unexpected dent in your pocket - check unless the information is explicit!

Summary We hope that this guide helps you make your choice of a vacation rental easier. We think that vacation rental villas are exceptional value for money but there are some traps which we have highlighted. Whilst we realize that checking all these details might be a pain, we think that it will help ensure that you have a much better vacation!