I have used the internet to rent a vacation home 5 times in the last 3 years and through trial and error have learned a lot! With a large family, we were often forced to book either two hotel rooms or a suite with both options often out of our budget. When I heard about Vacation home rentals, I knew it could be the perfect solution. I turned on the Internet and suddenly, I had an enormous selection of vacation home rentals at my fingertips!

What I really liked was that not only were there multiple Internet sites that offered Vacation home rentals but all the other information they also had. On many of the sites I was able to bring up maps - not just of where the house was located but the distance from Disneyworld and the best route to get there! They had calendars that showed which dates were open which I really liked so I didnt waste my time trying to secure a Vacation home rentals that wasn't available! I also likeed that the Internet sites had multiple pictures of each the rental homes so that I could see more than just the outside of the house. I found five houses that seemed to fit our needs - a safe neighborhood within 15 minutes of Disneyworld, at least 3 bedrooms, clothes washer and a pool.

I gathered the family around the computer and brought up my five choices. After going through them all again, we agreed on the top three. I then contacted each of them using the links or emails given at the Internet site. I asked a few basic questions; how they expected payment, if the pool was heated and fenced, what all was included, how we would get the keys and asking the two that didn't list a laundry if they had one.

One wrote back they wanted all the money up front a month before we arrived and added a non-mentioned cleaning deposit of $2,000! Obviously, that was too much and so I was down to two choices. As it turned out, both our remaining choices were very close in what they offered and were priced at what two adjoining hotel rooms would have cost us. Both had all of the amenities we were looking for and wanted 1/3 of the weekly rental amount to hold the house. One of them edged out the other as it had a sub-division community park and fitness center available for our use. More importantly, they also had clubhouse where they had an office located that handled all the sub-division's vacation home rentals. This was a great relief - knowing we had a place to pick up (and drop off) the keys as well as a phone umber to call with any questions and/or concerns!

Having a vacation home rental worked our great! Being able to cook our own meals, swim in our own pool just spread out over 2,000 sq feet after a long day at the park was so much better than coming back to a cramped hotel! We liked it so much that we have enjoyed eight other vacation home rentals, both in the US and abroad! All of them booked easily over the Internet!

Learn more about this author, Kristy Stevens-Young.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Vacation home rentals: Benefits of using the Internet ?
We want to hear your view. Write now!