Vacation Rentals – "Condos, Townhomes, Villas & Vacation Homes"

Vacation rental is a term in the travel industry meaning renting out a furnished apartment or house on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel. Vacation rentals are becoming increasingly popular in Europe (especially in the UK) as well as in Canada. In some cities, like Barcelona, local authorities determined that vacation rentals were becoming a threat to the hotel industry, and passed some legislation placing regulations and limits on the industry.

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Differences between Vacation Rentals and Timeshares
Consumers unfamiliar with the concept of a vacation rental may confuse it with the seemingly similar, but distinctly different, timeshare.

A timeshare is a piece of real estate—often a condominium—that is jointly shared by multiple owners. While different types of timeshare ownerships exist, in general, each owner bears a portion of the responsibility, along with the right to a segment of time in which he or she is granted sole use of the property. Timeshare resorts allow financially qualified guests to rent and tour their unowned properties and then make those properties available to the guest for purchase.

Similarly, a vacation rental is a fully furnished property, such as a condominium, townhome or single-family-style home. However, a true vacation rental is not for sale to the guest; rather, the owner of the vacation rental merely allows the guest to rent the property for a predetermined length of time.

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Pros and Cons of Vacation Rentals
In the United States, hotels often enjoy the advantages of brand recognition, familiar reservation processes and on-site staff for problem resolution. For a guest, booking a vacation rental often meant stepping out of that comfort zone. Perceived cons of vacation rentals include: having to communicate directly with the property owner, being unfamiliar with the property, lack of on-site staff and concerns about quality or cleanliness.

However, for some guests, the benefits outweigh the potential negatives, with many vacation rentals offering more space (multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, separate living areas), more amenities (fully equipped kitchens, fireplaces, private hot tubs), convenient locations (on the beach, ski-in/ski-out) and greater privacy than a hotel. As of 2006, vacation rental management has become a $10 billion industry.

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Vacation Rental Management Companies
Many property owners contract a vacation rental management company to manage the business of their vacation rentals. These management companies market the vacation rental property, providing information and photos to guests and handling reservations and billing in the homeowner’s stead. These companies also handle details such as guest check-in, housekeeping and property maintenance.

The largest vacation rental property management company in the United States represents nearly 17,000 vacation rental properties. Guests who book through vacation rental management companies may experience benefits including quality control, housekeeping services, professional reservations agents and on-site or on-call staff.

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Listing Services and Aggregators
Aside from those represented by a few large property management companies, vacation rentals may be offered through aggregation portals. Aggregators typically display property information and photos provided by the homeowner, however the listing services bear no legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information. Also, because the listing services do not verify the information, they strongly encourage guests to request references from past renters and to procure a lease agreement prior to sending money to a homeowner.

A vacation rental may not be booked directly with a listing service. Because each property owner has his or her own deposit and payment requirements, cancellation policies, key-pick-up procedures, etc., a guest must contact the property owner or owner’s agent directly in order to book.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vacation Rentals".