Understanding Vacation Rentals
What are Vacation Rentals?
The travel industry defines ‘vacation rental’ as renting out a house or furnished apartment on a short-term basis to tavellers as an alternative to a hotel. For some time now, vacation rentals have been a popular travel alternative in Europe, in Canada and even more so in the UK specifically.
Usually people only have top destinations like in mind, but you can find these rentals all over. The popularity of vacation rentals is growing all over the world. They are akin to self-catering villas or rentals. Take vacation rentals in Barcelona, Spain for example. In cities like Barcelona, officials decided that vacation rentals were a rising threat to the hotel industry and passed laws placing regulations and limitations on the industry, while in others, such as England, France, and Ireland, the government certifies and promotes holiday rentals, even offering their own program of holiday / vacation rentals.
Vacation rentals are furnished properties, such as a townhouse, condo, or single-family style domicile, typically referred to in Europe as villa rentals. Arrangements are made by the tourist/client to rent the vacation rental property for a preset period of time.
Some may rent by the night similar to hotel accommodations. However, the more common practice is weekly rentals. A true vacation rental can’t be purchased by the guest; rather, the owner simply permits the guest to rent the property for a preset time period.
Vacation rentals are typically apartments or houses in popular travel destinations that are usually leased to leisure tourists. Guests generally have full use of the residence, including utilities but typically not meals or servicing.
This approach can be cheaper than booking a hotel room or in some cases several hotel rooms for the same length of time, especially if traveling with a family or other sizable group of people. They often come with a variety of amenities to make your stay more enjoyable, including a private hot tub or pool (without the noisy neighbors), a full size kitchen (so you don’t have to dine out for every meal), laundry facilities (so you can pack light).
- Vacation rentals offer the comfort and privacy of a home so you can have a more relaxing, enjoyable vacation.
- Once again, vacation rentals are often less expensive than hotel rooms and are great for groups and families who would otherwise have to pay for multiple hotel rooms.
- The typical hotel room is 400 square feet (37 sq. meters); the average vacation rental is a 2,000 square foot house (186 sq. meters).