Nov 30, 2007
I've neglected to mention ResortQuest and Rentalo.com as sources for vacation apartments
In recent days, I've discussed a fairly small service for obtaining rental apartments in some of the cheaper areas of Europe. Using The Right Vacation Rentals (www.therightvacationrentals.com), you have the security of relying on the 30-year-old Untours organization, which has personally inspected the some 200-or-so European apartments it is making available for weeklong and longer rentals, in relatively unfamiliar places like Croatia, Crete, Cyprus, Corfu, the Dordogne, Emilia Romagna, Slovenia -- you get the picture.
But what about the more popular areas, and the places where the U.S. dollar isn't quite so weak? I should point out that as many as a dozen major worldwide services have emerged to offer rentals of apartments and vacation homes -- in fact, the business segment they occupy is one of the hottest in travel. One of the big players is ResortQuest (www.resortquest.com), with many thousands of properties to offer. Another is Endless Vacation Rentals.com (www.evrentals.com), owned by the mighty Wyndham Hotels, and claiming to represent some 60,000 properties, including many in Europe.
There is, of course, Vacation Rental by Owner (www.vrbo.com), which we've mentioned on many occasions on this blog -- and which also spans the world, offering apartments ranging from Europe to Japan.
And finally, there's one we've overlooked: Rentalo.com (www.rentalo.com), a Florida outfit, which maintains a "Special Offers" box on its main menu, highlighting savings of up to 65% on apartment rentals and vacation homes in the tropics, in particular (you use it for Florida, the Caribbean, California, and Hawaii, in which it lists thousands of properties). It's a major firm with a good record to date, although some of its offers are based on the requirement that you book for a minimum of 30 days -- always stay alert for that kind of fine-print condition.
Currently, Rentalo.com is offering a two-bedroom bungalow capable of housing a family of six on the west coast of Puerto Rico, close to popular beaches and every kind of commercial and entertainment attraction -- for only $99 a night (for the entire bungalow, not per person) from now until March 4, 2008. Here the minimum rental period is only seven nights. Rentalo.com is also offering a giant Florida villa in the Orlando area (four bedrooms, three baths, swimming pool and extended deck, sleeping eight) for only $90 a night in the month of January only, for a minimum rental of five nights. With great care, Rentalo points out that the rental is suitable for a family with pre-schoolers, since all doors to the pool are fitted with child alarms.
Have any of our readers actually experienced the services of any of these increasingly important firms? If you have, we'd love to hear about it in responses to this post.
Write and read comments about this post.
But what about the more popular areas, and the places where the U.S. dollar isn't quite so weak? I should point out that as many as a dozen major worldwide services have emerged to offer rentals of apartments and vacation homes -- in fact, the business segment they occupy is one of the hottest in travel. One of the big players is ResortQuest (www.resortquest.com), with many thousands of properties to offer. Another is Endless Vacation Rentals.com (www.evrentals.com), owned by the mighty Wyndham Hotels, and claiming to represent some 60,000 properties, including many in Europe.
There is, of course, Vacation Rental by Owner (www.vrbo.com), which we've mentioned on many occasions on this blog -- and which also spans the world, offering apartments ranging from Europe to Japan.
And finally, there's one we've overlooked: Rentalo.com (www.rentalo.com), a Florida outfit, which maintains a "Special Offers" box on its main menu, highlighting savings of up to 65% on apartment rentals and vacation homes in the tropics, in particular (you use it for Florida, the Caribbean, California, and Hawaii, in which it lists thousands of properties). It's a major firm with a good record to date, although some of its offers are based on the requirement that you book for a minimum of 30 days -- always stay alert for that kind of fine-print condition.
Currently, Rentalo.com is offering a two-bedroom bungalow capable of housing a family of six on the west coast of Puerto Rico, close to popular beaches and every kind of commercial and entertainment attraction -- for only $99 a night (for the entire bungalow, not per person) from now until March 4, 2008. Here the minimum rental period is only seven nights. Rentalo.com is also offering a giant Florida villa in the Orlando area (four bedrooms, three baths, swimming pool and extended deck, sleeping eight) for only $90 a night in the month of January only, for a minimum rental of five nights. With great care, Rentalo points out that the rental is suitable for a family with pre-schoolers, since all doors to the pool are fitted with child alarms.
Have any of our readers actually experienced the services of any of these increasingly important firms? If you have, we'd love to hear about it in responses to this post.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: accommodations, tips
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
