Hotels & Timeshares Vs. Vacation Rental Homes
Posted on May 1, 2008
Filed Under Apartment Living | 9 Comments
With a standard hotel, you get:
•One room with a bed and a bathroom
This is particularly difficult setup for families with small children. When the kids go to sleep, mom and dad’s have no option but to go to sleep for fear of waking the kids. They are limited, as the whole family is sharing one room.
However, with a timeshare, you typically get full living accommodations like a condominium unit. A typical timeshare offers:
• A central living room (usually with a sleeper sofa)
• One, two, or three bedrooms
• Dining area
• A kitchen area with stove, oven, microwave as well as pots, Pans, utensils and dishes
• One, two, and sometimes three full bathrooms
• Washer and Dryer
• Balcony or Terrace sometimes both
• TV, VCR & Stereo system
With a timeshare, mom and dad can put the kids to bed in one bedroom and continue to enjoy themselves in the spacious living areas or retreat to the comfort of a master bedroom.
However, with timeshare come the monthly expenses and maintenance fees that are usually associated with many timeshare agreements. You are locked into that place and if you want to venture to other locations, you had better book early in order to guarantee that week.
Vacation rentals by owners offer you the best of both worlds. You get the amenities that timeshares provide without the monthly expenses or yearly maintenance fees. Some even do better as most vacation rentals provide DVD players, Cable TV, local phone service and internet access.
Most rental owners use their vacation homes one or two weeks out of the year and if they want to go somewhere else, they do vacation a rental swap with other owners. Owners are a great source of information for your next vacation rental stay as there are vacation rental homes all over the world.
Vacation rental homes are fast becoming the best way to go especially with the increase price of Hotels and timeshare fees that have to be paid each month. Most families looking to get away are looking to vacation rental homes as their vacation home. Vacation homes provide them with all the comforts of home and the cost savings that timeshare owners have to pay.
A great source for information on vacation rental homes is “vacation rentals by owners website ( www.VRBO.com ). They have the most comprehensive list of vacation home rentals in the world. They cover the United States, Hawaii, Caribbean, Africa, Central America, Mexico, Canada, South America, Asia, South Pacific, Europe just to mention a few.
So when planning your future vacation stays keep vacation rentals at the top of your list, for all the comforts of home for you and your family. If you are ever looking for rentals in Puerto Rico visit Villas de Costa Mar’s website for information on all the amenities this little island paradise has to offer. http://www.villasdecostamar.com/
Another great resource for vacation rental owners is RENtalbot.com, This is a vacation rental directory site. RentalBot offer vacation rental property owners an unparalleled array of Property Management features including detailed availability calendar, renter contact lists, payment tracking, reminders, and much more. Visit their site for complete information… http://www.rentalbot.com/
Watch the video related to rental living
Lotus Hale (Hawaiian for House) is a free standing residential home built in the traditional Plantation style and with the newest furnishings and décor. It has high ceilings, tropical fans, huge covered lanai pavilion for all day all night outdoor living. Resort Hot tub amid tropical foliage. The 2 bedrooms plus a huge loft, 2 baths, sleeps 8. Full kitchen includes all the plate ware, flatware, pots and pans and utensils. The living room is stuffed with cozy furniture and fully furnished …
Help answer the question about rental living
Can anyone supply info on rental house availability and cost of living in two locations.?I would like to retire to the Mackinac City, MI area, or to the mountains in West VA. and will appreciate any residents of those areas sharing info on the availability of rental houses, the average rent and cost of living, like utilities, etc. in general. Thank you.
About Author
Alberto Rios has worked in the financial arena for over thirty-five years. His interests in real estate investing lead him to his two most recent purchases in Dorado Puerto Rico. I enjoy my vacation home at least three weeks out of the year. We are always looking for new vacation rental places to visit.
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9 Responses to “Hotels & Timeshares Vs. Vacation Rental Homes”
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I've worked in hotels for seven years and I'm pretty sure most are the same. You are legally supposed to have an adult in a room. Some hotels the age to get a room is 18, others it's 21. I know sometimes parents will get a seperate room for the kids. That's fine as long as they're not trouble. The reason you have to enter in a number of adults (besides what I just said) is just because that's how hotel computer systems are set up.
As far as the limit to the number of people in a room, you have to ask the individual hotel that. There are fire codes that come into play and it all depends on the size of the room.
Hi,
I have nothing but good things to say about The Flamingo. It is by far my favorite hotel on Las Vegas for Overall Value. Anyway here's a review I wrote about it on Yelp.com
I'll start off with the bad first: we came in early around noon, and were told to come back around 3 pm to get our keys. We came back at 3 pm, they said come back at 4 pm cus the room wasn't ready. That's okay cus technically check-in time is 4 pm. Came back at 4 pm and was told the room wouldn't be ready for 30-45 minutes….we asked for a manager. Our room was ready in 10 minutes, and he gave us a $30 coupon to use at the bar or gift shop. So that's decently fair.
Anyway Flamingo's location is quite possibly the best on the strip. Right smack dab in the middle, what more could you ask for? The distance from room to elevator to the strip was real short unlike so many other casinos where it's an absolute chore to get from your room to the strip or vice versa. And I like how when you walk out of the casino..you're right on the sidewalk…there's no long ass escalator/path you have to take to get to the sidewalk. I mean wow.
We also liked the rooms considering we got the upgrade Go! Rooms that are newly remodeled, and look nothing like the outside of the casino (which is starting to show it's age pretty badly). The beds were big, clean, and comfy. Huge ass 42" LCD TV, a TV in the bathroom mirror, a separate shower and tub. The shower also had some body jets which was nice. No problems with the water temp. or pressure. I'm used to staying in standard rooms or Vegas or even sh*t holes like Tropicana…this was anything but that.
Service: I didn't like how they couldn't guarantee my dry cleaning would get to me in the 6-8 pm slot that it said on the bag, but it did arrive on time. The cleaning ladies did a decent job, and didn't steal anything so that's also good. And when we called for our bags, extra glasses, and hangers..they were quickly brought up (very quickly)..that's good.
Casino: The theme is losing it's touch, but it's still decently nice inside. It's not Bellagio, it's not O'Sheas either. Drinks take a little while to get to you, but I think I was up a couple hundred in this casino, and my buddy won $2,000 w/the lucky lady jackpot on the blackjack table…plus they had $5 and $10 tables during busy times..that works for me.
Pool: Really nice, I came a little late so no staff or bar was to be found…but I'm sure in the hotter days it'd be excellent.
View: my two rooms had amazing views. One had a good view of the pool, and the other had amazing view of the Bellagio fountains.
Price: I originally booked the Go! rooms directly through Flamingo for $590 each plus tax for Friday & sat night. Then I cancelled and rebooked them for $610…why you may ask. Because I found a cheaper rate of $540 on Orbitz. Due to their Best Rate Guarantee..they not only matched the cheaper rate, but they dropped it 25%. Our rooms now were a little under $400 for the weekend per room. Sounds like a great deal to me.
Overall: Other a few slight quirks here and there. I can't give Flamingo any less than 5 stars. I'm sure it'd be different if we paid more and/or were stuck with a standard room. But considering of our group we paid $100 each for the room here, compared to the $70 each at Tropicana or $90 each for Bally's. I definitely will say Flamingo was well-worth the little extra money for the room quality and strip location. I'd highly recommend Flamingo's Go! Rooms to anyone who wants a great value on the strip.
Link:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/flamingo-las-vegas-las-vegas#hrid:oks-EjH9ALXUGAlnmIH3jA
~G
p.s. Other suggestions: Ballys for the same price range. also affordable, great locaiton, clean. Stay away from Tropicana it's garbage.
anyway great websites:
http://www.yelp.com – real reviews by real people
http://www.cheapovegas.com – critics reviews but gives reviews on the casinos, their service, clientele, rooms, pool, etc.
in sc all of them, just dont travel to fl bc you have to be 21 to rent a room.
I do not know the hotels of which you speak, but on average, a hotel with a bar increases minimum age to meet the drinking age.
If you want to party, I would recommend Hedonism 2 in Negril. You can get more information at their web site or on superclubs.
Most resorts I know about are all inclusives and only people staying there are allowed on property.
I remember of staying at a hotel in Mahipalpur area(10-15m drive from both the terminals) last year. I don't remember the name though .It was about Rs. 1500 for an A/C type room just for a night.They would quote some high price if you show up with a lot of luggage.Don't forget to bargain.
You can get a prepaid taxi at the airport counter and ask the taxi driver to take some hotel.
You can use the systems on internet to find hotels, read reviews and even see how much they would charge and if they have rooms available for when you want to go.
Then you make a note of the name of the hotel and use a search engine (google or something like that) to find the website of the hotel or a hotel listing for the town.
With that information you can phone them.
Of course, you can also just use Google to find hotels without using the booking sites, but I found they have useful information about the hotels, certainly when you find one that has reliable reviews.
The old way is to buy a guidebook, buy the one made for your kind of budget, and phone based on the reviews in that book.
For backpackers and budget travelers the Lonely Planet series are great, but if you like 4 star hotels they will not be as helpful.
Which site would be the best to start looking depends on where as much as how expensive. I would just spend an hour or so and do several searches, both using a booking site as first source and using a search engine without a booking site to.
check hotels.com i don't think i've ever seen anything like Great Wolf, however I have seen others with waterparks and fun stuff. Where I live we have a Great wolf and an Americana which has a waterpark. Check that site, or try expedia.com or travelocity. You may find them that way. OR tripadvisor.com might have something.
Good luck
Check out the Beverly Garland hotel.