Central Florida attracts approximately fifty million tourists each year, drawn to the Disney World and other theme parks, yet most of them don’t take advantage of one of the best bargains available there – Florida short term rentals. They don’t know that for the price of a single hotel room they can rent a complete single family home or condo, on a day to day or week to week basis just as if it were a hotel or motel, and experience a far more relaxing vacation.
Because the Orlando area is a popular tourist destination many buyers not resident in Florida purchased second homes in the area to use for their own vacations but also to offer an alternative to motel or hotel rooms. Increasingly, short term rental properties are becoming the accommodation of choice especially for families.
You have been planning and anticipating your vacation for weeks or maybe even months so you want everything to be perfect including the accommodation. So how do you avoid disappointment if the home you’ve booked doesn’t live up to your expectations?
The simple answer is to be just as rigorous in researching a Florida short term rental as you would any hotel or motel. And to apply just the same sort of thought process as you would with a hotel/motel. So plan your Florida short term rental, particularly those close to Disney World, Sea World and Universal, around the following guidance:
* They say you get what you pay for and this is usually true of vacation homes. If you book the cheapest rental home, chances are that it will be poorly maintained and certainly won’t be the dream home you imagined. After saving so hard for your vacation it would be a shame to spoil it by picking the cheapest home rather than a better one for just a few dollars more.
* Obviously you will want to see the home you have booked to ensure that it is of a high quality. Whether you are booking directly with the owner or through a company ask to see photographs or a virtual tour of the property you will be staying in. When booking through a company, work only with those who allocate your choice of home at the time of booking and not at their choice at the time of arrival.
* Location: Check out the address of any home that you’re booking by searching on Google – most Orlando vacation rentals are within two to ten miles of Disney World. If the owner or management company won’t give you an exact address, ask for the zip code. Disregard any rental company that boldly states that you’ll be only “five minutes from Disney” – just like any hotel or a short term-rental, take any estimate of travel time with a huge pinch of salt because at peak times, traffic to the theme parks makes these estimates meaningless.
* Customer Service: There’s a lot of work to keep a hotel room in top class condition – and even more in a vacation rental home! Find out in advance how the management company or owner provides service when that television set doesn’t light up or the pool heating isn’t hot enough or the air conditioning stops working. What do they do if it’s going to take days to fix? Can they offer alternative properties?
* Most hotel rooms have a guest book to help you find the services you need and the facilities the hotel has to offer. But there is always some service or need these books don’t cover. In a hotel you can ask at the front desk but in a rental home you have to find the solutions for yourself. To find the nearest shopping mall or restaurant you can look on the internet and for anything else ask the management company.
No matter what kind of accommodation you are booking for your vacation it pays to do as much research as possible before hand to avoid disappointment on your arrival. It is certainly necessary when looking for Florida short term rentals to avoid distress and a costly mistake.
