Dream VACATION Home

A new trend in vacationing is ditching the hotel for a home rental.  Why is it so trendy?  Well, it's unique(which modern society loves), it definitely offers a "homie" feel while you're away, it can be cost effective, it usually comes with more amenities then a hotel(they offered beach chairs, and strollers!!!), and ........well, I'm sure there are more reasons(let me know why you love home rentals).

In the last two month I've stayed in two totally different home rentals, but what I was looking for never changed.  I've used 2 platforms for my vacations.  In California I used homeaway.com, and for Hawaii I used airbnb.com.  There are plenty of others out there, but in doing my research I have found the additional fees are far less using these two.  I even compared them with each other, and most locations are listed on both platforms.  It's a matter of what they are listing for, and the fees.  Our rental in California was almost $600 cheaper on homeaway then on airbnb.  I can only assume that the owner knew they can make more money on airbnb so they listed it higher.  So, I say....do comparables when deciding where to stay.  It's also worth looking at hotel pricing, because that may be cheaper.

Now, what to look for....I always use the advanced search feature when searching.  I know what I want when I'm traveling and you can refine your search so much.  You can select what is right for you.  I always want a whole home/apt as opposed to something shared.  I also choose something near my destination, with free parking, wifi, the right number of beds for my party size, 1 bathroom per bedroom in the home(just a good rule of thumb), a hairdryer(I hate packing those things!), working a/c, and a pool.  Now the pool is not a deal breaker, but it's an awesome amenity. And,check it out....our California one came with a water slide!!!!

Once I've narrowed it down to a few choices, I read reviews.  Both sites offer "trusted" rentals, but others may be just as nice and they haven't been on the site as long.  So, read the reviews.  This is super important!  Remember when I said I booked my accommodation months in advance, at the same time I book my rental car?  Well, I booked an accommodation that had few reviews but SEEMED like a good place.  A month before our vacation I was reading reviews and two reviews stated that it was actually a SHARED APARTMENT, and the "free parking" was in an IHOP parking lot 2 BLOCKS AWAY!!! Ya, I had obviously made a huge mistake.  After over a week of communicating with the owner and airbnb they refunded my money and I was able to book accommodations that had much better reviews, and had accurate pictures.  That's another thing....look at the pictures of the place.  They should give you a clear picture of what you should expect.  If something isn't clear, you can email the owner for more pictures.  They want you to stay, so they will make sure you know what is up. An added bonus to the new place was that we were super close to Costco, which I have expressed my love for while traveling.

I've enjoyed my experience with vacation rentals.  It has made us feel like real locals when we step out into the world.  I have enjoyed writing reviews for the locations as well.  The rental in California is one that I truly plan on attending again.