Vacation rental is the renting out of a furnished apartment or house on a temporary basis to tourists and it is becoming a popular alternative to staying in hotels. It can be cheaper, especially for a larger family or a group of friends, and it is more private. The term vacation rental (not to be confused with ‘Bed-and-Breakfast’), is mainly used in the US, while it is referred to as villa rental/villa holiday in Europe and elsewhere as self-catering rentals, holiday homes, and gites (in rural locations in France).
Vacation rentals can range from budget studio apartments to expensive private villas, some of fully-staffed or serviced but mostly it refers to self-catering and self-cleaning. Among the top companies are HomeForExchange.com, Tripadvisor's Vacation Rentals, HomeAway, Owners Direct and Villas4You.
Most homeowners allow their homes to be booked on the internet but demand to be paid in full or at least with a sizable deposit before the arrival date. This makes renting of such properties tricky at times if a client does not work through an established agency, and fraud can be a big issue. Anyone can place a fake photo of a house on the internet and demand to be paid in full before the arrival date or at least a big deposit, only for the guest to arrive and find that the property does not exist. It therefore helps to book through an agency or organization representing home-owners in which case they handle reservations and billing on the homeowner's behalf.
Home For Exchange is a marketplace for non-commercial exchanging of houses, campers, rv's or even yachts. Offer your home for exchange and save on accommodation costs. Home exchange is an alternative for renting a holiday property and is gaining popularity rapidly.
Tripadvisor's Vacation Rentals has over 500,000 properties in over 190 countries. It offers homeowners the opportunity to rent out their homes or rooms in their homes through a dedicated website for a fee. Listings are free but Tripadivsor takes a 3% commission on each confirmed paid booking. Tripadvisor has a majority stake in FlipKey, a website that offers vacation rental properties and verified guest reviews.
HomeAway is a U.S. company based in Austin, Texas and has over one million properties in 198 countries and 2.8 million rooms in its database. Similar to Tripadvisor's vacation homes, owners list their properties on their website with up to 24 photos, property reviews and an interactive calendar. It is free for travelers to use and payment is normally made online with credit card or by eCheck through HomeAway Payments. Its network includes more than 20 sites and is viewed by over 60 million travelers each month. It also has a luxury or premium section where visitors can find 'dream homes' curated by Andrew Harper, 'the most respected voice in luxury travel' and vetted on the basis of 75 individual criteria.
Owners Direct from Homeaway is UK-based and is part of Homeaway. It has more than 70,000 properties worldwide on its wesbite and available to be rented directly from the owners.
Owner Direct.com has over 8,000 rental properties available for nightly, weekly, or long-term rentals and travelers can choose a privately-owned vacation home, villa, condos, apartments, chalets or cabins. More than a quarter of its property listings is in Canada, with the U.S. second and Europe third.
Villas4you is Uk based and has over 700 villas across 27 destinations in destinations such as the Balearics, Turkey, The Canary Islands, Spain and Florida. It has a selection of villas, each with their own private pool which have 'passed our health and safety checks, but also met our quality standards'. The company offers to arrange 'everything', from flights, car hire and travel insurance.
