170: Tips for Renting a Vacation Home + Packing Tips

Vacation Mavens

Vacation home rentals are soaring this summer and for good reason. Renting a vacation home -- whether or it is a cabin in the woods or a beach house -- is a great way to socially distance. Listen to our tips on what to look for when renting a vacation home, plus our suggestions on what to pack to supply your vacation home.

ON THE PODCAST

00:35 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

02:30 - How to determine what house to rent

03:40 - Extra fees

05:15 - Guest responsibilities

10:10 - Cooking your own food

12:45 - What to pack

28:26 - Entertainment

36:18 - Traveling during Covid-19

40:18 - Up Next

TIPS FOR VACATION HOME RENTALS

• Make sure to thoroughly read reviews for any house you are considering and look for statements about WiFi, cleanliness, location, responsiveness, etc. This will help you weed through the options you have and maybe even answer some questions that were going to ask. This is a great thing to do for hotel/motel stays and house rentals too!
• You will also need to keep in mind that when you are renting a house you also need to find out what the cleaning fees will be. This is not usually something that is built into the price of your stay.
• Right now because of Covid-19 some house rentals are also leaving a full 24 hour in between guest stays.
• Depending on where you are booking your house through you will also need to keep an eye out for different service fees that will get added on to your per night fee that you thought you were paying. The sticker price almost never includes these extra fees.
• When you rent a house you will also need to make sure that you know what is expected of you as the guest to do before you leave. You may be required to strip the beds, take out the garbage, or even make sure certain things are turned off. This might mean that you have to make sure you have time to do these things before you leave/check out.
• Plan for when you can check into the house that you rented. You can’t leave your bags like if you were to stay at a hotel so if you wanted to go somewhere right away do you feel comfortable leaving all of your stuff and/or food in a possibly hot car!
• The main upside of renting a house is so that you can cook your own food and have left over space. When looking for a house you might want to look into where the closest grocery store is. Even if it is a small one for little things you can map out a bigger one that is on the way and store before you get to the house.
• Keep in mind that supplies may be limited at the local grocery store and cost more than at home so ideally try to bring as much as you can from home.
• You really want to make sure that you are reading what is offered at your house. Kitchen utilities, bedding, pillows, soap, towels, sponge, spices; some house rentals will not supply everything that you would want. If things are not listed you can always message the owner about them or even just get a clarification of an item on the list. For example, coffee makers. What kind of coffee maker is it? Do you need to bring filters?
• If the house has a washer and dryer and you think that you will end up using it, you might want to bring your own detergent and dryer sheets. You also might want to think about bringing detergent pods since they pack a lot easier.
• Some places might have a few games and puzzles but you might want to think about bringing at least a deck of cards or other card games. If you are staying for a week the weather can change and you might get a rainy day where you are stuck inside.
• Outlets in houses might be tricky. You might want to look into getting a longer cord or even a small power strip can be useful when you need to charge different devices.
• You may want to think about bringing your own hand sanitizer. A lot of places will not provide hand sanitizer for your stay. Especially if you have younger kids you will want to try and make sure that they are getting into the habit of washing their hands every time they come inside the house.
• You may also want to look into getting disposable masks if you are able to buy them. They come in handy for doing outdoor activities since they tend to be a bit more breathable than reusable ones make out of different clothes.

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