When imagining our vacations and opting to rent a vacation home or condo we often dream of staying in a place that is close to the best tourist attractions, lapping beaches and with stunning views. We want our vacation rentals to be in the best locations, with the amount of space we were looking for and with the mod cons we want. But most of all we expect to arrive in the place we actually booked and hope that it is in the best condition is could be at the price you payed for.
These things we often take for granted as they should happen without us worrying about them. However, more often than not things can go wrong when booking vacation rentals. Below are some tips to help you avoid mistakes when booking abroad.
Check out the Vacation Rental beforehand (or get someone else to do so on your behalf)
This option is not always a possibility if your destination is somewhere new for you or too far to reach for a quick visit. However if you are in the area already and want to book vacation rentals for the following year it is always a wiser option to physically walk around the rental before you book it. If you are reserving your vacation rental from home and are reserving through a rental agent, then you should ask them to visit the property and take current photos.
Viewing the vacation rental yourself or through an agent allows you to illuminate risk of false advertisement. On websites for instance a third bedroom could literally be a closet or a stone’s throw from the beach could actually be a twenty minute walk down some steep steps.
Curated Properties
If vetting the vacation rental yourself is not an option, you should book through an agency that boasts a list of curated properties. These properties will have been checked out and vetted by the staff at the agencies many times. These agencies only display a small list of properties that have been thoroughly checked and often these are of a higher quality and a little more expensive as they are placed by the agencies and not the owners simply placing ads themselves.
Checklist of Damages
When arriving at your rental property, it is wise to witness your agent taking down the previous damages if there are any. You could even get a copy and both sign so that everyone is aware of the damages that were already present in the vacation rental. This way when it comes to getting your deposit back there will be no extra charge to things that you definitely did not break or damage whilst staying there.
Use a credit card
Definitely pay for your vacation rental booking by credit card and not cash. This means that there will be evidence through a paper trail. If anything goes wrong like a cancellation or a mix up on dates or size of property then you have evidence of what you paid for with your card.
Is it legal?
Some countries or cities state that a property must be rented for minimum of one month and no short stay rentals are allowed. Check the rental laws before booking as some rental agencies still allow you to rent short term even if the laws are in place. Although it is unlikely that this will be an issue you don’t want the risk of coming between a rental disagreement between property owner, agency and hotel owners in the area.