Renting a villa can be a great way to spend a holiday or vacation. I’ve put together this site to give you some handy hints and tips on how to make the most out of your villa rental. Most of the information you’ll find here is based on my personal experience of renting villas for my holidays and also renting out my villa in Florida to other holidaymakers.
The next thing you’ll want to know is, “How much does this villa cost to rent?” A good villa-letting site will provide up to date minimum and maximum costs for letting the villa for a week. The higher price will typically apply in the busier peak seasons such as July and August and other popular holiday times. The best letting sites will provide full rental rates for any given week throughout the year.
Once you have found a villa that you like the look of at a price that is right, you’ll need to check the availability. Lots of villa letting web sites provide details of current availability but be warned, this isn’t always as up to date as it should be. Whilst details of the properties rarely change and letting rates are usually set at the start of each year, availability is constantly changing and as a consequence is often out of date. Even though villa letting sites offer villa owners the facility to update the availability of their villa, its not always practical for the owner to do so particularly if the property is advertised on multiple sites as this would involve logging into each site and updating the information for every single booking taken. I found that when I was letting my Florida villa, the best way for me to keep track of availability and bookings was to use a simple calendar wall-chart on which I would write each booking as it came in. Customers would send me a quick e-mail to check the availability and I would simply reply be reading it off the wall-chart. I felt it was better this way than offering my villa as available on a web site when it wasn’t simply because I hadn’t had chance to update the information that day. I found it led to less disappointment for my customers.
When you have made contact with the villa owner to make your booking, its important to find out the booking and payment terms and conditions. This will usually be a deposit payment to secure the booking followed by the balance of payment a few weeks before you arrive. Some villa owners may have full terms and conditions in a booking information pack that they mail out or email to you but the one thing that is really important is to make the deposit payment as soon as possible.
When I rented out my Florida villa, the one rule about payment I had was that anyone can make a provisional booking but the booking was only secured when I received the deposit check. This meant that two people could make a provisional booking for the same week and the person who got the deposit check to me first secured the booking. It was as simple as that. For this reason alone, I would recommend you pay the deposit as soon as a practically possible. Credit card is the fastest way to pay a deposit but bear in mind that not all villa owners are set up to take credit card payments but most will accept cheques. I also found bank transfers to be quite reliable and fast for all concerned.
The three things you usually need to complete your holiday apart from booking the villa are:
There are some fantastic flight deals on offer that United, Continental, American and British Airways don't want you to know about. They want you to buy the full price seats with the highest margins for them.
Depending on the location of the villa, it may be that everything you want is near-by but usually hiring a car for your stay is a must. When enquiring about local activities, be sure to find out how far they are away from the villa, as this will help you decide what sort of vehicle to rent. Some villas even come with use of a car as part of the deal, so it’s worth asking.
It’s always wise to make sure your insurance is up to date and comprehensive enough to cover all your needs and eventualities. In the past I’ve found the following companies offer good deals.
In the excitement of starting your holiday, it's important not to forget to ask a few basic questions when you arrive.
Is there an inventory? The villa owner will have a list of items that come with the villa. It's important for you to check that the list tallies with what's actually present in the villa and that all items are in good condition. Why? Because you may be charged at the end of your stay for items on the inventory that are missing or broken.
Is there a sheet of house rules and contact phone numbers in case of any problems or emergencies? This is really important as very occasionally things do go wrong and usually when you least expect it. It's well worth knowing who to phone at 3am when the plumbing system springs a leak.
How often will the villa and pool be cleaned, when and by whom? Typically this will be about once a week.
Where do I collect the keys and instructions? Some villa owners may be there in person, others may have a representative to greet you to handover the keys. Who ever greets you will show you round the villa, explain how things work and answer any questions they might have. They may also make a courtesy visit during your stay just to make sure that everything is going well. You’ll usually find that they’re a great source of information about things to do locally and they’d love to share it with you. Remember, one of the reasons that they like renting out their villa is meeting the people that they rent it to.
When you leave, arrange with the villa owner or their representative a mutually convenient leaving time to allow for the inventory to be checked. This will also be an opportunity to hand back the keys back in return for your deposit check.
Don’t forget to check what the weather will be like when you go and have a great time.
I hope you have found this information useful and if you have any comments or queries about it, please let me know.
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