You’ve opted for renting a vacation home in small town America*.
The autonomy of making your own meals appeals to you. You need more room, but suites are expensive. Whatever your reason, renting a house especially in a small town, can be the way to go.
Tips for Renting a Vacation Home
Research your town and decide why you want to stay there.
Having lived in Red Lodge, Montana for several years, I picked it out of eagerness for my husband to experience summer in this place I love so very much.
- Go to local websites—from the Chamber of Commerce to restaurants and hotels. You’ll get a broad sense of what’s available in the immediate area.
- Check the state websites. Montana’s tourism site, for instance, breaks the state into areas and you can request specific information.
Do an internet search: “vacation homes in Red Lodge”
This gets a ton of results from Airbnb, Flipkey, HomeAway, TripAdvisor, VRBO,—these are huge sites, but bypass them, at least initially, even if you don’t have a friend in the business. Why?
Because you’re going to a small town and you’ll want to try to support the local businesses, right?
Everything in life comes with a fee.
I’ve been an AmericanExpress cardholder for years. Do I get affronted when a small business doesn’t take my card because AmX’s fees are too high for the business to process? Not at all. (It is a surprise that AmericanExpress is a sponsor of Small Business Saturdays. What’s up with that?)
One thing to keep in mind is that a site like VRBO will have booking fees, service fees and credit card fees. Once, the site was free to the lister. Now they charge the property rental companies credit card fees. This means you, the vacationer, will be charged these fees. While it seems that VRBo should be paying those, that’s not how they see it.
They have nothing to do with actual property maintenance, unlike a local company, yet they will charge a cleaning fee. Hence, again the fee to the renter goes up to cover both company’s fees.
As a consumer, we have no obligation to be concerned about what a small business pays their vendors in fees. But did you ever notice that once you learn such a thing, you start to shop differently?
Check Other Vacation Home Rental Companies
I don’t know what the above agencies charge for renting properties listed through them, but a rough search might show the same property listed there and on a small company’s website for a lesser price.
- Airbnb – old fashioned me is still freaked out by the idea of renting a room from someone I don’t know. Skipping that. Okay, okay, I know they’ve expanded to include homes…maybe I should lighten up.
- VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) has a bit of a misleading name. Yes, individual owners can list their homes there. But often those owners may choose to have a property management company care for and rent out their property. What that does add to VRBO rates?
- TripAdvisor has upped their game since we rented our first Welsh cottage in 2014, our second in 2016, and am dreaming of one for 2018. Once I found both cottages on TripAdvisor, I did further searches on the properties to see if I could find different rates on other sites, if they were listed by the owners without an agency, etc. In both cases, it was simplest to go through TripAdvisor. Whether or not that’s because it was a foreign country is unknown.
Confirm What Amenities are Provided
If you’ve searched the listing site for the property and can’t find any details there, email the listing company and ask, but be specific.
We learned that many self-catering cottages (as they are called in the UK) do not provide sheets or towels. What a shock it would have been to arrive from America and find out there were no linens or bath towels! Luckily, we learned that with the first house and knew to ask for the second. In America, it is routine for these to be offered.
However, you might ask how much toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, tissues, if any, are provided. Then you know what to pack from home (if you’re driving, at least!) or be prepared to purchase once there.
Which brings up the next point: where to shop.
You would guess, and be right, that the smaller the town, the less options to buy certain of your favorite things (for instance your husband’s addiction to Kirkland Brand Animal Crackers) and the more expensive they might be.
Do a search of the surrounding areas for what retail is available. If you’re flying, check near the airport to make it easy on yourself. If driving, what’s the last large city you will pass through on your way to your destination?
Vacation Homes & Towns
Perhaps a rental home in a small town and these links will make you think about giving up the big city lights and setting a new, enticing course for yourself.
PS. Don’t forget to find the best local coffee shops.
- Disclaimer: this is the first house I’ve rented in the USA—Montana—and I have a personal affiliation with Red Lodge Rental Properties.
Head South to Heart Mountain, Wyoming
I am Rosemary’s sister…..Working for a vacation rental company (RedLodgeRentals.com), my advice to you would be to google vacation rentals in the town that you are going to. Look for the rental company’s website in that town. Undoubtedly you will have VRBO or Airbnb pop up. They cannot answer your questions about a vacation rental you are looking at. Call the local company – they are the experts of their town and the experts of the homes that they rent out. For instance, we have people calling us in Red Lodge because they want to stay in Yellowstone National Park. As the crow flies, Yellowstone is a mere 65 miles away from Red Lodge. What they don’t realize is that the 65 miles is switchbacking over the mountains and will take you 2 – 2 1/2 hours. Additionally, you can spend days within the Park itself. We do not want people staying in Red Lodge if Yellowstone is their goal. We will tell them to certainly add Red Lodge to the beginning or end of their vacation but don’t use it as their “base camp” if they are wanting to experience Yellowstone. So…go with the locals! We love guests and want them to have the best experience!
VRBO puts me in tears….we used to be able to market our homes on VRBO for an annual fee. Now VRBO demands that you allow the booking feature on your site. They add booking fees, service fees and credit card fees. In adding their fees, we are finding that we have to raise our cleaning fees to make up the difference as there are certain things we cannot wiggle on….We must pay the home owner, the state and local taxes, cleaning staff and an additional local tax. Also, we are not permitted to contact a potential guest as VRBO strips out their contact information along with ours. Sometimes, it is just nice to be able to talk to someone to answer questions. You might ask “why then do you use VRBO?” The answer is because our owners want to see their homes on VRBO.
I haven’t had an animal cracker in years and now I’m horribly craving them thanks to your husband. Too funny. Great tips for rentals. I really wouldn’t know the first thing if I needed to find a rental. I’ve had friends use Airbnb before, but I don’t travel much. However, I’m in love with visiting small towns though so I’m sure your advice will come in really handy once I have the opportunity to travel more.
Alex recommends the Kirkland (Costco) brand as being the best animal crackers, next to the original. Such a connoisseur.
You and me–sticking to the small towns, big time!
I am looking to find a private vacation home for me and my husbands two year anniversary but I have no idea what to ask so that I can get the perfect experience. You mentioned to ask what amenities are provided since some will do self catering or laundry. That is a great point for me to consider because I never thought that places may not provide those amenities. Thank you for the great advice about private vacation homes.
Thanks for stopping by, Barbera. I’ll check out your site. Amenities are important to ask about. The first Welsh cottage we rented had 2 rolls of toilet paper on hand although the owner knew four adults were staying. Luckily, we’d packed some!
Thanks for the tips! Indeed, even thoughI think right now with all these booking websites and airbnb it is becoming super easy to rent a place, we need to keep an eye on all the details
Sure do, Kristina. It’s too easy to get taken advantage of without doing some investigation of services provided.
Great tips on renting houses Rose Mary. I have read all too many horror stories of people arriving to their holiday cottage to find it looks nothing like the photograph online.
It pays to identify the products which will be available so you do not get caught out.
I find Trip Advisor is reliable and due to the high number of comments you need to weigh them up. Some people really do want a home from home!
Phoenicia, I’ve only had one experience where I believe the TripAdvisor reviews were fake. They were all stellar and the hotel was absolutley horrifying. I was in such shock, I reread the TA reviews a couple of times. But yes, usually the reviews–the average of the reviews–is spot on. It sure helps a wary traveler!
I have a friend in the same town as me, and him and his wife are now empty-nesters. They’ve been doing the Airbnb thing, and he send me an affiliate link to check it out. I have two bedrooms I could make money from, but with a weirdo rescue dog in the mix not to mention having a succession of strangers in my house, I won’t be doing that anytime soon.
Am so with you, Jeri!
Although I don’t have a spare room or a weirdo dog. I would like the dog!
I’m reading this while in a vacation home in a pretty small town, Estes Park, Colo. In this case we found it by contacting the local visitor information bureau who referred us to the YMCA of the Rockies.
Ken, we should share our travel agendas! This blog is the start of several coming from our road trip west. Last place we hiked on the return? Estes Park! If I can find the name of the restaurant where we dined so well, I’ll shoot you an email. Enjoy! Rocky Mountain National Park is lovely. I hope your vacation home is, too!
Super post, Rose. I’ve stayed at many B&B’s and have enjoyed most of them. the one I didn’t quite enjoy was a B&B in Maui where the owners’ children were most unruly! we have rented a house privately for a winter getaway, but I’ve never gone thru a service. I would definitely try Airbnb as a close friend of mine offers her own home for that and has had terrific experiences being a host. So I’m sure there are good ones to be had. Is the service you mention operative for properties outside of the US?
I have enjoyed a couple of B&Bs along the way–thankfully no unruly children were invovled. Yikes to experiencing that.
Your friend is more daring than I am. 🙂
Red Lodge Rentals is strictly in that little town. Maybe we should meet up there next spring?
How awesome that would be! But right now, I cannot plan any trips as my husband is not well.
Keeping him in my prayers, Doreen. And you, as well.
I’ve only rented homes at southern beaches in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. And, I think beach rentals are in a league of their own. This is helpful information, Rose Mary. Thanks.
Thanks, Nadine. I should have asked you for some beach-renting tips to add to this blog!