How to Choose a Vacation Rental That Doesn’t Suck

August 20, 2018 Liana Safian

One thing we learned during our travels in Europe is how much lodging affects your experience in a place. We’ve told the story of our worst rental…or as we refer to it our nightmare in Nice, so now we’re sharing something more helpful—what we’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) about how to choose a vacation rental.

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8 Tips for Choosing a Vacation Rental

We’ve stayed in a lot of different lodging types over the years—everything from an Edgar Allen Poe themed hotel room to a vintage travel trailer. Our time in Europe was no exception. After staying in 16 different places over the course of 3 months here are our tips to choose a vacation rental that doesn’t come with unwelcome smells or visitors of the rodent variety.

1. Determine your location and transportation

The first step when you choose a vacation rental is defining exactly where you want to stay within a region and how you’re getting there. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the area. Use Google satellite and street views to scope out neighborhoods.

Decide on a few main things you want to do while there. Look at the distance from the airport or train station (wherever you’ll be arriving and departing from). Research your transportation options. Will you rent a car, use public transit, or walk? Choose a place that’s close to the things you want to do but also reasonably situated to your departure location.

Choose a vacation rental that’s perfect for your trip with these lodging tips and recommendations. It includes a guide on how to choose a vacation rental, things to watch-out for, and our recommended booking sites. — Location is one of the most important factors when choosing a vacation rental. We loved staying in the Trastevere neighborhood in Rome.

2. Define your “lodging type”

Are you looking to book an entire apartment or would a private room with a shared bath suffice? Or maybe you only need a tent in someone’s backyard? For real, this is an option on some rental sites. Your ideal lodging type will likely depend on a few things:

Your level of experience or comfort with the area
The length of your stay
Your budget
What you plan to do while there

We chose hotels for our first two weeks in France so that we could ask the front desk staff for recommendations while we familiarized ourselves with the laws of the land (and how to buy apples). After that, we stayed primarily at rental apartments and guesthouses which were cheaper but don’t have anyone on site 24/7 to provide information.

3. Be wary of the word “close,” usually followed by the word “to” or “by”

“Close to” or “nearby” can be very deceiving terms. Also, be wary of the word “accessible” and the phrase “you can walk to”. We found these phrases to mean everything from a 5- to a 40-minute walk. When you choose a vacation rental use Google maps to see exactly how “close” the main attraction, train station, or wherever else you might want to go during your stay actually is from the rental property.

4. Check the amenities very carefully

Use filters for necessities (like WiFi and the occasional washing machine if you’re long-term travelling). Try to identify the amenities in the rental listing photos and note the details of the descriptions. The listing may say there’s a washer, but that can mean it’s somewhere on the premise and requires an additional fee. Also, AC may be listed as an amenity, but you have to make sure the host leaves the remote to turn it on (example of learning the hard way). Best to analyze the photos to see the amenities for yourself, then double-check them upon arrival.

5. Dig deep into the reviews

Page 2 deep, even page 3 deep. If I’d dug further into the reviews, we could have avoided or at least been prepared for, our terrible rental experience. Be wary of places without current reviews or any reviews, for that matter.

6. Read all the fine print

Will the host expect you to pay cash? What’s the cancellation policy and fee? Are there other charges due upon arrival? Throughout France and Italy there are additional city taxes that are often asked to be paid in cash. Read all the details when you choose a vacation rental to ensure there aren’t surprises upon arrival.

7. Double check the total before purchasing

Some booking sites add-on extra charges at the very end so make sure you’re looking at the real total when comparing prices on different sites.

8. Know what you owe and how/when it’s expected to be paid

A feature of Aribnb that we love is the payment process. You make an initial deposit when you book. Then the final payment is automatically made a few weeks before your stay. Everything is done through the secure site so there’s no money exchanged directly between you and the host. However, many sites don’t operate this way.

There was an instance in Italy where we had to pay cash for a guesthouse even though the instructions said it could be paid by credit card. When we arrived, the host required cash. This meant he had to first walk us to the nearest bank and wait while we withdrew money. However, if we’d read all the reviews we would’ve seen another guest mention this and have been prepared. If you’re unsure of the details, send the host a message prior to your stay to confirm expectations.

Our Recommended Vacation Rental Booking Sites

Hostelworld.com

This site is great for more than just hostels. We used it to find budget hotels and guesthouses. We found their rating system to be accurate and the guest reviews were super helpful.

Airbnb

We found the best priced places on Airbnb. Also, there are usually discounts for booking at least 7 days at one place. Use our link to sign-up for Airbnb and you’ll receive a $25-40 credit (depending on Airbnb’s current offer) to use towards your first booking.

Hotels.com

We like Hotels.com for the large selection of lodging and their rewards program. Once you stay 10 nights (collected over time, not consecutively) at qualifying places, you get a free night.

Hopefully these tips help you choose a vacation rental that’s perfect for your stay. Do you have any favorite vacation rental booking sites or resources?