Trying to find the right place to rent a vacation home online is one of the most frustrating things imaginable. To find a place for our summer vacation this summer, we decided to start our search in the winter because we assumed that no one else would be looking that early. We were wrong.

At first I thought we should try the "pay" sites since they seemed more reputable and a lot were run by professional travel agents. The first site took my information, and promised to contact me within the week. After two weeks, I got an email that they no longer had anything available in the area. Another site said my travel date was too far in advance, and the third took my information before mailing me dozens of brochures on how to make money buying a vacation home!

Then came the website to end all websites. A vacation house was found in the area we chose, and the site asked for a $300 non-refundable deposit. Feeling a little hesitant about giving out my credit card number over the internet, I decided to call their "helpful" customer service number. Much to my surprise, I learned that the $300 was not the deposit for an actual vacation house, but a deposit for one of their agents to find a vacation house, and there were no guarantees that they would find one.

That was the last straw! By then we were only a few months away from our vacation date, and I decided to try out some of the "free service" sites. Most were simply shams for pay sites, and irreparable ones at that. Several promised free information before once again directing us to pay sites, or sending even more information of buying the best vacation house.

Finally I stumbled onto a website that ran a free service matching homeowners with renters who needed a vacation home. I placed a few calls/emails before finding a house that seemed just right. It almost seemed too good to be true, and that's because it was. Two weeks after the owner accepted our offer, he sent an email saying that he received a better offer for the same week, but if we were willing to increase the price, the vacation home was ours.

That was when I hit my final breaking point. I went back to the search engines, and tracked down the best rated online booking company I could find, reading as many reviews as possible. Their website was difficult to muddle through, but their phone staff was professional and eager to help.

If you want to avoid any of the problems I did, look for travel agents when you're searching, and don't focus just on vacation home rentals.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Eblin.
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