Comments on: Renting a House as a Vacation Option

By: the duchess

the duchess — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:48:58 +0000

This was SUCH a timely article – in two months I am going on my long-awaited Dream Trip to Burgundy France for 4 weeks. I took a ‘leap of faith’ a year ago and arranged to rent a tiny cottage in a wine-making village off a website I came across one day. Needless to say, I have had many moments of doubt/panic wondering if this was such a good idea, even though financially I know it was the best option – I am paying about $800 Canadian a week, far less than any French hotel, and I have been told I get a full kitchen, fireplace, washer and dryer, 3 piece bathroom and apparently there is a bakery in the village that has crossants and bread every morning. Still, I had some naysayers telling me I could be walking into a nightmare. These comments are making me feel that I made the perfect choice after all!

By: DrLT

DrLT — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:07:09 +0000

We did this a couple of years ago for a trip to Yellowstone with my extended family–about 20 people. We found a very nice “cabin” online in Island Park, Idaho, and stayed for five nights, with each family group taking turns to do dinner one night. It was a great way to go! Next year we are looking into renting a houseboat and doing a lake vacation, same idea.

By: SMS

SMS — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:48:15 +0000

We used VRBO service for an 8 day stay. I recommend renting a place. Most require 3 day up to a week stay. I cooked all but 2 meals. Kept up on laundry. We all had a place to stretch out. WiFi was available along with satellite TV. Location was good for us. Saved a ton of $ as I was feeding 5-7 people a meal. I would/will definitely do this again.

By: Money Beagle

Money Beagle — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:28:20 +0000

We’re actually doing our ‘one week vacation’ for the summer as a rental. We’re splitting the cost with my in-laws. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out as we’ve made the rental sight-unseen, but I’ve had great interaction with the owners, so I’m confident it will work out OK.

By: AmyG

AmyG — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:25:36 +0000

We own 4 cabins that we rent by owner in the Smoky Mountains so I’m happy to hear that Trent had a great experience. I’ve always believed that renting a home gives you the best value and a great vacation experience. It’s a great way to travel, especially with a family or friends.

By: sara

*sara* — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:50:47 +0000

Completely agree! Especially when traveling in Europe, how much more fun to stay in one of the beautiful historic buildings than in a boring, generic hotel.

It also ends up being really nice if someone gets sick on vacation (which seems to happen to me quite often). So much better to be in a home than in a hotel room.

(nothing against hotels here, though! If they weren’t so expensive they’d be great!)

By: socksaver

socksaver — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:58:57 +0000

Couple of years ago my daughter wanted a get away with friends and family. We did a week in the mountains with four couples. Fabulous cabin ( four bedrooms each with it’s own private bathroom) pool table, hot tub, grill, wrap around porch with views to heaven. Best part- each couple cooked and cleaned up one day. Everybody strutted their stuff and nobody was unhappy. We all want to do it again. Just waiting for our schedules to jive.

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:53:52 +0000

My future in-laws rented a house when we went to Michigan a couple of years ago for a family reunion/wedding. It was a beautiful house with a path down to the beach, game room, gourmet kitchen, and enough sleeping areas (bedrooms and closed-off rooms) to fit at least 15 adults and a 5-year-old.

What a great way to spend a week! I’d definitely do this again.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:50:18 +0000

My family always rents homes when going on vacation. There are 2 websites dedicated to matching up travelers with homes for rent, so you don’t have to use Google. One is Vrbo and the other is Airbnb. Type either one in the url bar with dotcom behind and start searching!

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:11:08 +0000

Another cost saving tip for traveling: home exchanges. You stay in someone else’s house while they stay in yours. Some people are fine with it, others are not. But if you are fine, it’s even cheaper than a vacation rental as the only cost is the cost to join the site. We swung a whole month in Europe for our family of 4 that way as our lodging for two weeks in Paris and two weeks in London cost us $99 (the cost of membership).

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 08:38:56 +0000

Definitely a great tip. Also, you are see reviews of rental houses on trip advisor under “specialty lodging” which is good for people who may be worried about what they are getting :)

By: moom

moom — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:59:22 +0000

I definitely prefer to rent apartments where possible. It’s great to have the option of a kitchen etc. though you can still eat out when you want to.

By: kristine

kristine — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:39:05 +0000

My ex was one of 14 siblings. We used to, as a group, rent a house in the Hamptons for the summer. Rarely were more than 3 families there at once, and we could come and go as we pleased for 3 months. With so many to spread it around- it was extremely cheap-we could walk to the beach. Every night we cooked a huge meal- many hands made light work.

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:03:48 +0000

#3 Cheryl – You’re right. When we travel we often eat the big meal at noon and then snack or have a smaller meal in the evening (often leftovers) – whether we eat out at lunch or eat in (that way we don’t spend the best part of the late afternoon in the kitchen.

#11 Emma – when we were planning the family reunion, it was very interesting (& surprising) to see who was easy-going about the rooming arrangements & which were very specific about what they would or would not accept. But we all got along just fine once we got there!

By: Emma

Emma — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:20:28 +0000

My family also discovered the benefit of vacation rentals. We do it through VRBO (vacation rentals By Owners) site. Living in a large city we are always looking for some affortable freash air. Poconos Mt (PA)are has many gated communities, completed with a large pools, lakes, beaches with guards, kiddie pools, restaurants, club houses for kids bingo, fire camps, daily programs for youth and young kids. We split the $850 per week cost among our two 4 plus 4 families. We cooked all meals at home, what else it there to do ?(O.K. I cooked because I do it fast). Ate out once. The whole week expanses were about $500 per family, plus food from home. The best vacation value ever. One potential “problem”- you have to know people you rent the house with .( more like love them) They have to share your values, something. There is nothing worst than mismatched characters to spoil vacation.

By: MP3

MP3 — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:29:52 +0000

We have rented apartments when travelling in England, and condos when we go to the Caribbean. More comfortable, easier to putter about when your partner has a different internal clock than you (I am an early riser, he is a much later riser). Having breakfasts and packing picnic lunches saves a ton of money and also reduces the amount of weight gain one usually gets on vacation! We always eat dinner out though. There’s only so much cooking I’ll do on vacation!

By: Daria

Daria — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:18:30 +0000

We have rented apartments when traveling to Europe for our family of 7 adults. When our daughter got married two years ago, we rented the house next door that was between tenants for our guests to stay in. We paid the previous tenants (with the property manager’s permission)for use of the utilities because they were moving out two weeks before their lease was up and had paid to the end of the lease. We had 15 people and it was so convenient to have them next door. The property manager said I left the house in better condition that it was before hand and the previous tenants were happy they got all of their deposit back. Friends let us borrow air mattresses, and we stocked the house with paper products.

By: Srinivas Rao

Srinivas Rao — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:55:04 +0000

Trent,

People often cite cost as a reason for being unable to travel, but what they often fail to realize is that long term travel can actually be more cost effective because of the fact that you can rent a house a opposed to staying in a hotel. With sites like AirBNB and Homeaway you have some amazing options for rentals that are not only reasonable priced, but probably much higher quality than the hotel would get in the same price range. With a large group it’s a no brainer to go this route.

By: Amy P

Amy P — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:40:13 +0000

“Olympia National Forest is not a real place.”

Did Trent mean the Olympic National Forest or the Olympic National Park? I’m most familiar with the Olympic National Park. It’s about a million acres, with beaches, mountains, lakes, rainforests, etc. Sol Duc is very pretty, and the beaches are much photographed. You need probably at least two days to do the Olympic Peninsula with any sort of coverage, to be able to stop and do trails, etc. A really serious hiker/camper/mountaineer would take longer. (Full disclosure: I’m related to a bunch of people who do tourist businesses on the Olympic Peninsula, including some white water guides.)

By: mes

mes — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:34:15 +0000

Funny, I saw a guy that looked like you at Woodland Park Zoo last Friday. Maybe it actually was you?