Vacation rentals are alluring: They typically offer some combination of more space per dollar than you get in a conventional hotel room, attractive location, and kitchen facilities that let you cut the cost of some meals. They’re also great for accommodating large families or groups that want to vacation together.
Unfortunately, vacation rentals can be riskier than conventional hotel accommodations. The main problems are (1) you usually have to pay the entire rental in advance and (2) the rental may not turn out to be what you thought you were getting and (3) in the event of a problem, you may find dealing with an owner or manager might make it difficult for you to resolve the problem. Even minor misrepresentations and glitches can be major annoyances: a bedroom the size of a closet, a backed-up toilet, Wi-Fi that doesn’t work, AC that doesn’t work, too many “steps” to the beach, and you may not be able to contact anyone to fix the problem quickly. A foreign rental can be especially risky: You have essentially no legal recourse if it goes bad.
Rent a ‘Curated’ Property
The least risky way to rent is through a U.S.-based agency that manages a “curated” list of rentals. Those agencies represent a small list of properties that staff or representatives have personally vetted. They’re true agencies with a contractual responsibility to you as a renter.
Curated rental agencies typically specialize in limited regions such as Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean, London, Tuscany, or Provence, with a limited number of rentals in each. They also generally specialize in more upscale properties catering to large groups. Even for comparable properties, their prices are usually higher than rates at marketplace sources. You won’t find many curated budget properties
My “favorites” list includes hundreds of curated vacation rental agencies, so I can’t possibly list them all. You can locate them by Googling “vacation rentals in (location)” and sifting through the avalanche of responses you get. If you find yourself dealing with a small agency, it’s a good idea to check out both the rental organization and the individual accommodation, where you can. That means, at a minimum, checking with the Better Business Bureau, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and such.
