Tag: Renting

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Vacation Rentals…What Do You Want?

A few More Vacation Rental Tips

I know I have posted some tips to think about before you rent a vacation home, apartment, or flat. The following are some tips from readers, from personal experience, and from other travel professionals. They are by no means complete.

If you have tips or suggestions…please send them my way.

  • Read the reviews before you book. All of them. The good, the bad, and the ugly ones. If you keep seeing the same issue or problem in several reviews, chances are there is a problem or issue. If you only see one person who rants about the place, he or she either had a genuinely bad experience or they just like to complain. Keep reading.
  • Look at the dates of those reviews. If there was a problem three years ago, has the owner addressed that complaint in a more recent post? Are the most current reviews from two years ago? If so, you may want to look at another place with more current reviews.
  • Does the owner or manager speak your language? If you prefer they respond in English, is that one of the languages spoken? Or, are you going to have to rely on your college French to understand what you are renting?
  • Do you have the ability to contact the owner or manager? Both before and once you arrive. By phone or email? Does it say how soon they will respond? What about after you arrive? Will there be someone to talk to if a problem should arise once you unpack your bags?
  • Read the description. If it says two bathrooms, great. Keep reading. Do those bathrooms include toilet, sink, tub, shower, or what? Never assume a bathroom has all the above. We have stayed in generously sized apartments with three or more bedrooms and had only one toilet. We had three showers in separate rooms, but one very small room with a toilet.
  • Check the location before you book. Check street view, Google earth, and map view. You may find out the apartment that looks fantastic inside is located next to an industrial warehouse or a train station. Maybe not what you want. What is located around it? How does the building look on the outside? Is it neat or does it look run down? Is the street filled with bars and nightclubs? If so, your sleeping may be affected.
  • If you want laundry facilities, add that to your filters when looking at places. Many apartments in Europe have one facility which is both a washer and a dryer. You just use the appropriate button. It might be a good idea to take a few laundry pods with you. Be sure to label them and secure them in a resealable plastic bag. Put them in your checked luggage. If you are only carrying on your luggage, be sure to bring powdered pods. Label them well or leave them in their original container. I buy a small package of them so I can leave them sealed in their original bag. There is no doubt what they are if TSA wants to look at them.
  • Many times, apartments do not have bars of soap. Or, they have really tiny ones. If you are there for a longer time, it would be a good idea to bring your own soap. If I stay in a hotel and do not use the multiple bars there, I will toss one in my bag and take it with me when I travel to Europe. I already take my own shampoo, so why not soap?
  • When you return home, be sure to write a review on the site where you booked. Your comments may be what someone else was wondering about.

I will have more suggestions later. Do you have anything to add?

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Colmar VRBO

When traveling and staying in an area for several days, we don’t usually stay in hotels. Instead, we opt for a vacation rental or an Airbnb.

We find we have more options this way. We have the ability to eat in if we want, more room to spread out, and we feel a little less like a tourist who is in town for a day or two. We’ve stayed in everything from a roomy estate to a small apartment.

We’ve had noise that couldn’t be shut out to places with absolute quiet. There have been floors that squeaked if you even thought about stepping on them. We’ve had tiny lifts to the fourth floor and places where we carried our luggage up 79 old, worn, stone steps. There have been views worthy of the best postcards. And, views of a brick wall.

In Colmar, France, we opted to rent a VRBO (vacation rental by owner) in the middle of town.

As usual, we read all the reviews, contacted the owner, and checked out Google street view before we booked. What did we find?

The apartment was exactly as billed. Spacious, more than enough room, great location, and positive interaction with the manager. One problem was rectified as soon as they could. The lift to the fourth floor was not working when we arrived. Four of us carried our luggage up five flights of stairs. The following day it was fixed and made life easier when we carried up some wine we purchased at a local winery.

This apartment was two stories. One bedroom and bath were on the first floor. Two bedrooms and a bathroom were on the second floor. Not a big deal…until you saw the stairs leading to the second floor. This curved staircase with its small steps was only a challenge taking our luggage to the second floor.

Location was great. We were just steps to restaurants, shops, the market, and local life. Our parking garage was only a 10-minute walk.

All in all, a great location and a wonderful apartment in Colmar.

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Do You Really Want to Rent That Place?

Renting a vacation rental this year? Check out this advice several travelers have to offer.

If you are looking at VRBO or HomeAway, look for the Premier Partner designation. On Airbnb, check for the superhost badge. Both are given for outstanding service.

Read the reviews…all of them. Pay close attention to the dates and if the owner responded to something which wasn’t up to par. If the same negative comment keeps coming up, it’s probably a good sign there is a problem in that area.

If you are planning on doing a lot of cooking, it would be a good idea to pack a quality chef knife in a checked bag. I’ve never had great knives in rentals.

Ask questions of the owner. Don’t assume anything. I did once. When the amenities mentioned linens provided, I assumed that meant ALL lines. It didn’t. No sheets or pillowcases were provided. Just towels!

Introduce yourself to your host via email or text. Do this in advance. It is always a good thing.

When contacting an owner and it takes several days for an answer, this might be a sign he or she is not a prompt person. That would be a consideration if you needed to talk to them while staying at their property.

Look at Google Street View and well as maps. This gives you a good view of busy streets, railroad tracks, bars, graffiti-filled buildings, and streets filled with garbage.