By Fire And Ice Vacation Rentals
What To Look For in a Vacation Rental Whether you’re planning your next vacation or shopping for a vacation rental home of your own, there are certain fundamental things to look for in a vacation rental. First, let’s define the phrase “vacation rental”. A vacation rental, sometimes referred to as a holiday rental, is a private home rental that’s used by vacationers for short-term stays, typically in resort areas. These homes are generally furnished and come with fully equipped kitchens. They’re different than hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, etc, in that the manager is typically not on-site (although most managers are just a phone call away if you need anything). The advantages of these houses over more traditional forms of lodging are numerous. They provide you with many of the same luxuries that you’d enjoy in your own home. Additionally, a vacation home rental can usually provide you with more luxuries than a hotel, motel, or lodge would typically be able to, simply because the vacation rental owner is able to focus on equipping just one unit, and catering to just one group of customers at a time, rather than having to equip a large number of units repetitively as a hotel/motel chain would. When you rent a vacation rental home, you typically pay one price for everyone in your group, and you all get to stay together, in the same home, rather than splitting your group up into smaller groups, and paying by the room as you would in a hotel or motel. In a private home rental, you also have the option of making home cooked meals, rather than having to wait in line at the local restaurants 3 times a day, and you typically don’t have to worry about the noisy people in the room next door, unless those noisy people happen to be in your group. Whether you’re planning on buying or you’re planning on renting, there are some distinctions to be made in vacation home rental market. Is the home a vacation rental by owner, or is it offered by a property management company? Is the home a separate, detached home in a neighborhood (like our Lake Havasu vacation rental), a condo, a mountain cabin or chalet style ski rental (like our Big Bear cabin), a duplex, etc? This may determine the management style and type of accommodations that are provided. Typically, vacation rentals by owner that are not managed through a property management company can offer a slightly better rate because there are no management fees, however, there can be some disadvantages of this type of rental. The owner must oversee and manage the upkeep of the property himself, making sure that the place is clean and fresh and ready for your vacation when you get there. Special arrangements also have to be made to get you the door key. When tenants arrive for their vacation, if the home is not clean, or something isn’t working correctly (like the hot water heater), it may take longer to get it taken care of than a property that’s managed by a professional property management company. On the other hand, many owner operators employ maintenance people who are on call 24/7. This is a good idea for owners, and it’s always a good idea for prospective tenants to ask in advance how any required maintenance or cleaning will be handled. In a property managed by a professional vacation rental management company, the role of that company is to make sure that everything in the home is functioning and the home is clean and ready to go, prior to the tenants arriving. Management companies also usually have a direct line that a tenant can call in the rare event that things need to be taken care of. When you arrive in the area, you will generally show up at the property management office to check-in. There, they’ll give you the door key, directions to the home, information about the area, answers to any questions you have, and basically everything you need to enjoy your vacation. The management office is the equivalent of the front desk at a hotel, only you don’t take them with you to your rental property. Many property managers also offer a care package to their tenants on check-in, with special treats and discount coupons for the area. For after-hours check-ins, special arrangements are made. Now, on to the specific things that you should be looking for in a vacation rental property - for prospective buyers, this may help you figure out how to equip your property. For prospective renters, this may help you decide which property to rent. To begin your search, the most important thing to consider is if the rental property has the sleeping arrangements you need. Read the description carefully. Look at the pictures, and try to visualize where each member of your group or family will sleep. It’s not enough to just read the description of how many people the unit says it will sleep. Many times these descriptions assume people will be sharing beds or sharing rooms in a way that’s impractical for your group or your family. Vacation rental owners will typically try to equip their property to cater to the most common sleeping arrangements, and they also try to add a variety of sleeping arrangements, as a catch-all. For instance, in both our Bear Mountain cabin rental and our Lake Havasu rental, we started with the core rooms, offering some with king or queen sized beds for couples and some with twins for individuals and kids. Our homes have foldout sofas for added sleeping arrangements, and the Big Bear rental has additional, throw-down mattresses, that can be arranged however you want, in case the main sleeping accommodations that we’ve set up don’t suit your needs. (For specifics, visit the descriptions of those properties in the links above.) Also of importance are the cooking arrangements. How will you be eating? Will you be ordering pizzas, dining at restaurants, buying fast food, cooking in the kitchen, barbequing on the patio, or all of the above? Is the house set up for what you plan to do? You’ll want to look for the descriptions “fully equipped kitchen” and “has BBQ” in the text of the property description unless you plan to eat out every day. And, even if you don’t plan to cook, having a refrigerator for left-overs, snacks, and drinks is definitely a plus. Property owners will typically want to set up their homes to address the dining needs of their customers. Amenities are, of course, an important part of the decision to buy or to rent a property. For prospective buyers, there are relatively fixed amenities to look for in a place, such as a nice fireplace in a ski chalet or mountain cabin, or a private spa in any home. A home that already has those when you purchase it will save you money. For renters, you definitely want to read the property description and see if the owner has taken the time to add the things that are important to you. When you’re on vacation, little things like cable TV, a DVD player, TV sets in the other room, free long distance so you can call home, games, game tables (foosball, pool, ping pong etc), can make your trip more fun. These are some of the things that distinguish private vacation homes from hotel/motel rooms.
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