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HOLIDAY HOME - FINDING OR GETTING FOUND
Upward Trend in Listing Vacation Properties for Rental

A friend recently retired and has moved to a house in Provence in the south of France with the idea of opening a bed & breakfast or offering the home as a vacation rental, a “gite”, while another friend often rents out his home in California to head off to France or Italy on extended holiday where he rents a vacation house, usually a chateau or villa. Okay my friend admittedly has refined tastes, but whether tastes run to a garden house in wine country, English country cottage or lordly manor house, they have two things in common, how to find vacation homes for rent and how to attract potential renters to get found. My friend in France, when he gets his retirement property prepared and available may attract the attention of a site like Bargain Travel Europe to recommend his Provencal Bed & Breakfast to the world. But hoping to be discovered by a travel site or by holiday vacationers passing through the area with a sign by the roadside is not the most effective way of getting a vacation property found by the discerning vacation tourist.

How can a new vacation property for rent be found in a world of growing popularity? A couple of good ways to get a vacation home discovered by travelers is to contact the local tourism bureau or association. Another way to be found is to try to get listed on the websites of local attractions as a local resource. I have discovered a number of the unique places to stay on the website just that way. However, whether offering a vacation property for rent or looking to swap homes for a holiday away by the week or month, the most effective way to find renters or properties is through a listing service. There are a number of such services, and more coming online all the time as the popularity of vacation home rental rises. Some of these listing sites are country and often language specific, whether France, Italy, England, South America, Asia. Some are worldwide.

Many listing services charge a membership fee or a commission on every rental. They range from the small like Agriturismo in Italy focused on individual propeties and Gites of France to the large member associations like Best Western and Relais & Chateaux, which offer the recognition of brand but significant fees or revenue sharing and are more focused on full hotel properties than individual vacation home rental. Some services are local rental agencies often found to local tourism boards. To reach a wider audience web based listing services have been growing in popularity. Each individual property owner may have a particular way of doing business and may want a service that allows for the personal touch of direct rentals. Home Away is a service for listing individual properties for vacation holiday rental. For property owners Home Away takes 0% Commissions on Bookings They charge a listing fee and allow direct management of how the vacation property appears and operates. They have home listings in 100 countries, ranging from condos to castles and provide one of the easiest fastest ways to locate a vacation property reach renters. And they offer a money back guarantee.

Some tips for renting a vacation home: Reserve well enough ahead. Last minute is possible but may be costly. Make sure to confirmed arrival and departure dates, number of adults and children, any pets (if allowed), and any special needs. There should be a written contract agreement with the terms and conditions of the rental including terms regarding cancellations and refunds, especially in respect to required deposit. A deposit of 10% to 50% is common to confirm a reservation with full payment expected prior to arrival. The higher a deposit may affect the attractiveness of the property or be a factor of desirability of the location or quality of the offering.

With the costs of hotels rising with the exchange rate, and a desire by travelers to enjoy a home away from home vacation experience trips to holiday rental homes is a phenomenon growing in popularity, though not everyone retires to a French chateau. © Bargain Travel Europe

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SEE ALSO:

TRAVEL EUROPE WITH TIMESHARES

EUROPEAN TRAVEL ON A BUDGET

GETTING MARRIED IN EUROPE

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