If you haven’t heard about Vacation Rentals by Owner by now, you are really missing out on some great vacation deals! VRBO.com , as it’s commonly called, is a vacation rental website that puts vacation homeowners in touch with potential renters. Whether it’s a beach house in the OC of the California, a Swiss chalet atop a mountain, or a small castle in Ireland…VRBO has it! The site is easy to navigate, which makes it almost addictive on a rainy day! I have to admit, we’ve spent time “dream travelling”…searching for beautiful apartments and Villas available across the world!
We’ve had success in renting a beach house in California through VRBO.com before so when it came time to take the next step in our vacation planning, it was a natural choice to begin here. I actually put our excited 10 year old to the task of narrowing our choices. The site allows you to choose your country, city and in many cases down to neighborhoods. It also has advanced search options like number of beds, number of rooms, whether it’s pet friendly, & what it’s occupancy limitations are.
We spent about a day, or rather, Paige did, narrowing our choices available on Grand Cayman. Once we found it, the site allows you to send an e-mail inquiry to the owners with any questions you have regarding their vacation property. In both of our experiences, the owners not only responded by e-mail quickly but also called us within a day once it became apparent that we would be confirming with them. For our Grand Cayman rental, our rental experience could not have been more pleasant! Our VRBO rental was perfect!
Once we confirmed our rental, the homeowners gave us several flexible options to pay our deposit and balance. They also were very friendly and forthcoming with tourist information about the Island…and trust me, there were many! The wife & I exchanged so many e-mails that we’ve become friends! We’re still chatting on line & I’ve already been back a month!
There are as many budgets out there as there are travelers & this may not work for all but it met our needs!
As of today, the rates on this oceanfront condo are:
LOW Season: 4/13/09 – 12/18/09 $1800USD per week/$300 a night
HOLIDAY: 12/19/09 – 1/10/10 $3000USD per week/$450 a night
HIGH Season: 1/11/10 – 4/11/10 $2400USD per week/$400 a night
+ 10% Government Lodging tax
There is also a cleaning deposit to most rentals so be sure to read all the policies before placing a reservation.
I recommend this web site to anyone I talk travel to! It’s just too easy! VRBO Really IS the way to go!
Happy Travelling!
Travel Crazy Chick 