A great way to save on your vacations is by finding the perfect vacation rental. You can have more people along on your trip and split the costs to help you all save. Vacation rentals also offer kitchens, which most hotels don’t, so that you can save on your dining costs as well.
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When you are trying to find the perfect vacation rental for your family there are some things you need to keep in mind.
Use the tips below to find the vacation rental of your dreams that can also fit your budget.
Plan Early
Unlike hotels, a lot of the best vacation rentals can get snatched up quickly. It is best to start booking at least 6 months in advance. You may even want to start planning a year in advance if it is a very popular destination.
You don’t want to start searching for a great vacation rental only to find the one you want isn’t available during the dates that you will be traveling.
To find some of the best deals, be flexible with your dates. Booking sites often feature fare charts that allow you to track rates over time. Plan a vacation in the last week of off-peak seasons and you might save hundreds!
Choose Amenities you Really Want
Make sure you take into account the location of the vacation rental. Is it close to the attractions you want to visit? Is public transportation available or will you need to get a rental car?
If you are looking for a rental within walking distance to the beach do you really need one with a pool? Do you want to pay extra for a rental with huge flat screen TV’s or will you be too busy to even watch them?
It’s great to save money but choose the rentals that have the amenities that you and your family will use and will help make your vacation easy and memorable.
Protect Yourself
When you are searching for vacation rentals, make sure you use a reputable site. I suggest using Airbnb, FlipKey, or HomeAway as a starting off point in your search. Stay away from Craigslist where anyone can create a listing for free.
When you book your rental, use your credit card that has fraud protection just in case you end up having a problem.
Also, make sure you get a copy of the lease agreement and read the cancellation policy, they are usually more strict than hotel cancellation policies.
Read the Reviews
Before you book a vacation rental, read all of the reviews. It is a good idea to search for the same listing on different booking sites to get a good idea about the rental. Most rentals are on more than one booking site.
Do a quick search on Google maps of the rental. Check out the neighbors and compare the images that are of the listing on the booking sites to those on Google maps. If the outside images are similar it’s a good bet that the inside images are true to what you are going to get and there won’t be any surprises.
Look for New Listings
When you are checking out the reviews on the different listings don’t discredit the more recent listings. They probably don’t have very many reviews, if they have any, so check out the date that it was listed before you move on.
Some of the new listings may be great bargains. They could be newer and more modern homes that don’t have many loyal vacationers yet. This can make the price lower since they aren’t in high demand.
Finding the perfect vacation home does require some legwork but it is totally worth it when you don’t have to worry about anything when you are on vacation.
If you are looking for even more ways to save on your vacation, I highly recommend the book, Triple your Travel.
It simplifies travel, to make it affordable for regular people like you and me.
You’ll learn exactly how and where to look for the cheapest flights, accommodation, food, transport, entertainment and more. Remove the uncertainty from your travels so you can spend more time doing what you’re supposed to be doing – enjoying the world.
You can also check out my other posts:
Become the Ultimate Travel Hacker
Avoid these Common Travel Scams
How to Save on Attractions and Sightseeing
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