There are several things you should take into consideration when booking a vacation rental unit direct with the owner, as opposed to through a management company. The important thing is that, unlike a hotel booking, where it’s typically a take it or leave it rate… with a vacation rental, you have a lot of room for negotiation and gaining custom advantages.

Here is a list of tips to follow when booking a vacation rental direct through an owner. 
  
Get all agreements in writing

Get all the main agreements put in writing. Details of all the agreed upon items should be written and signed by the vacation home owner. Specifically, get the following in writing…
   
 Total Cost of the Rental, Security Deposit Amount, Additional Fees if they exist such as heater, firewood, utilities, cleaning fee’s, etc…, List of Policies including Cancellation, Terms of Payment, House Rules,  Address to Property, Phone Number of Property, Owners Address and Phone Number,
 Contacts for Maintenance Emergency, Driving Directions to the Property and Instruction on How to Obtain the Keys and How certain Appliances Work.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 10:32 amand is filed under Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.