Lots of great info here. I’m curious about something if anyone can chime in. Last year we rented a beach house for a week and the very last night into the morning I woke up to leaks all over the kitchen and dining room ceiling from a very bad storm. I had atleast ten items catching water all over the place. What if this was the start of our stay? What does one do if something happens and you can’t stay?
If the rental is through a company or the homeowner owns multiple properties, they will do everything in their power to place you in a different unit they own. If renting from an individual, the two of you would work out some kind of agreement, coming late plus partial refund, full refund, etc. If you couldn’t come to an agreement, this is where VRBO would come in if you booked through them to help you get your money refunded 100%. This is also where travel insurance helps.
Honestly, short of a hurricane or other natural diasater, it isn’t very likely the rental is all of a sudden going to be unlivable overnight. Freak accidents can happen, even at resorts or hotels. If the place burns down or is damaged in a storm, there is really nothing the owners can do but try to fix it up in time or refund you your money. It’s sad, but you’d be in the same situation at a hotel. I have a friend whose time share burned down in Gatlinburg last year right before Christmas (not a VRBO place). They had to cancel their trip and reschedule it for the summer after the place has been rebuilt.
In the case of your leak, normally the homeowner will send a repairman right away to try to fix the situation. Best case scenario, they fix the problem while you are at the parks, and you go on as if nothing ever happened. If the leak could not be fixed for some reason or will be too disruptive to your stay to fix with you in the house, you may have to leave. A refund would then be an order, either partial or full, depending on the situation.
Again, this would be a rare occurrence. In all my years of booking places, we’ve never had damage or issues to the point of needing to leave. The closest I’ve come is last year, when the hurricane hit. I was a nervous wreck about a place I rented in Tampa on the water. I was due to stay days after the hurricane hit. I had no idea if the house would be there or not or be in any kind of condition to live in. Luckily, it took only minor damage and the trip proceeded as planned. I was in contact with the owners all through the hurricane, checking on how things were going. I felt so bad for them. They had no idea if they’d still have a house either. If the house had been unlivable, I’d have received a refund and then had to find alternative accommodations. Knowing in advance there was a good chance the house wouldn’t be in any condition to stay in, I went ahead and booked accommodations at a hotel in Orlando where I could cancel up to 24 hrs out. Then, when I learned the House was fine, I simply canceled the hotel reservation and proceeded as planned.
Minor maintenance problems have never been an issue for us. Owners have always either employed maintenance companies to handle problems or come themselves. If the air conditioning breaks while there, someone should be sent to fix it ASAP, same with the tv, or any other appliance. We once had an owner bring us a a brand new DVD player still in the box, same day, when we called to say it wasn’t working. This is again why reviews are so important. There may be a leak or some minor issue that needs repair, and you want to stay somewhere where the owner is going to address that issue same day, not try to put you off. Overall, look for nice, well kept, updated, places to rent with good reviews. Those aren’t likely to be the types of places that start falling apart half way through the trip, and if something does come up, you know they will fix the issue right away.
One other thing to add on. Someone mentioned getting pictures of everything. Our last rental had a separate staircase to get to the game room and two bedrooms and bathrooms. The staircase was one of those steep, spiral ones. My elderly mom, one sister in law and my dog (lol) couldn’t get up them so those bedrooms were out for them plus my mom never got to the game room.
This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about watching out for with the loft rooms. You really want to check the pictures, including stairways, if there are any.
We also avoid the places that have spiral staircases as they wouldn’t be possible for many of the people that usually travel with us. Also, they are very impractical and almost impossible to carry luggage up or down or to carry pets or children up and down.
I can’t stress enough the importance of looking at the pictures carefully. If I can’t see proof of all the things important to me, I’m not staying. If anything looks suspicious, I’m not staying. Watch for multiple rentals using the same pics, way out of date pics, rentals where pics are only provided for half the rooms, pictures that show contradictory images of the same space or property, and bad quality photos. I won’t stay in a place if the pictures are skewed, blurred, or not formatted correctly. If the owner can’t even be bothered to put photos up correctly on a website, my confidence in their ability to take care of the house and my needs drops considerably. It’s nothing to do with being tech savvy. I get they might not know how to correctly upload the pictures, but if you can’t be bothered to find someone who does know how, what else might you not be bothered to do out of laziness? Show some initiative people. I want to rent from someone who can figure out how to solve a problem, not someone who can’t even be bothered to put his page in order. Look for reviews that say things like, rental exactly as pictured, rental true to pics, or rental better than pictured.
Also, follow up on things you may see or don’t see in pictures. That coffee pot you see on the counter may now be replaced with a Keurig. If it’s important to you, ask about it. The fence you see in the backyard, may not be fully enclosed on all sides. The place may be listed as 2 or 3 story, but the staircases may not be shown. Ask what type they are. There may be a picture of bikes in the garage or a kayak on the porch, but these things aren’t listed under the amenity list. Ask if the rental includes use of those or if they just ended up in the picture.
I also go on google earth and walk around the neighborhood and the house before booking a place. I want to make sure the neighborhood looks good and the pictures on google earth of the outside match what the homeowner provides. I also want to see what may be nearby or in walking distance that we may be interested in. How do the streets look (easy to get in and out of the neighborhood, is there construction, would we have to access a toll road everytime we left), is there a park or other entertainment in walking distance, how close is the nearest grocery store or drug store? If staying in a resort or complex, how close to the pool or other amenities are we? How close to a parking lot? What type of parking is available? If there’s a driveway, how many cars could the driveway fit? It’s amazing what all you can learn just from google earth. Use your resources.
Think of VRBO like a Disney vacation, you get out of it what you put in. Yes, there are horror stories, just like there are people that think they can walk right up to CRT and be seated without an ADR or ride FOP without waiting or who don’t know what a FP is. Those people run into issues and have a hard time or simply miss out on something because of lack of planning and research. If you do your research, look at reviews, look at pictures, look at google earth, google the homeowner or rental company, ask questions, and read the contract carefully, it is very unlikely you are going to run into major issues.
@nighttowell... wow, what a write up! Thank you so much for putting that much effort into replying. It is greatly appreciated.
I'm assuming those that mark "No parties/events" means we couldn't have a get together of friends, or is it worth contacting the owners to ask? DS's soccer team is going to a tournament at ESPN again this year and we thought it would be nice if we had the team over one evening when we're not playing.
Anytime, you are going to be inviting people over for a get together. You definitely need to arrange that in advance with the owner. Many places are simply not big enough to host so many people. I’ve found most back yards in Florida tend to be non existent or very small, and while houses and condos offer more room than a hotel does, that doesn’t mean there would be enough room for the whole soccer team. You also need to ask yourself, do you really want to be taking on the responsibility for having so many people over? If the property is damaged in anyway, you will be held liable for paying for those repairs or replacements. I personally wouldn’t want that responsibility. I wouldn’t mind having a few close friends or family over, but my kid’s team, no. I just wouldn’t know them well enough to trust that nothing would get broken. Kids get excited. They knock things over, break toys, pop floats, etc.
We have only ever stayed at one or two places where it would have worked to host an outdoor barbecue or party. Everywhere else the places were not configured in a way that would have worked well for a large group. We stayed in a lake house one time for Memorial weekend. It was semi secluded. It wasn’t in a neighborhood. It had a huge back yard with a floating deck, picnic tables, a gazebo, outdoor lawn games, and a fire pit. It was advertised as a great place for having get to gathers and parties in the backyard. I would have had no problem having a party there. Most places located inside resorts and neighborhoods frown or forbid parties. If you want to have a couple of families over for dinner or something, the owner will probably approve that. Having the whole team over, probably not. I mean would you really want an entire sports team you are unfamiliar with having a party in your home while you aren’t there?
