Rent your vacation home with confidence

How to rent a vacation home with confidence

1. Determine your needs for a vacation home based on the party size, dates, and amenities you are looking for. In most cases, a vacation home makes perfect sense as it is quite economical to rent a vacation home rather than stay in a hotel with so many advantages of renting a villa over a hotel. While searching for a vacation rental, keep in mind that most vacation homes if not all do not allow smoking indoors and many do not accept pets of any size.
2. Contact the owners by email and/or phone to verify the authenticity of the listing and that of the owner. Insist on speaking on the phone and do not conduct all the business just by email.
3. If an owner is unwilling to speak with you on the phone, walk away.
4. Work with extreme caution if the owners are listed on free listing sites only as it is hard to confirm the ownership or even the existence of the vacation rental.
5. Confirm that the address you are renting is actually a residence and is licensed for short-term rentals.
6. Look for reviews of the property, owner, or both. You can read the reviews of Emerald Island Rentals here.
7. Know what amenities are standard versus optional. Most if not all vacation homes include all utilities as part of the rent. Some owners include phone calls as well. Understand what is covered with the rent.
8. Ask for a written rental agreement to protect your interests. Ensure any changes to the reservation are agreed to in writing. This includes changes to dates, rental amounts, or any special accommodations that are not advertised by the owner.
9. Understand the contract and ask any questions before signing the rental agreement.
10. Most owners do not hold the dates until a reservation is made (with an online or mail-in form) and a down payment is sent. Reserve your vacation home by booking directly on this site and be assured that you will get a confirmation for your reservation in writing.