View Full Version : Where do I start to rent a Villa
Help........
My family wants to go to Florida for one week in February only, do a little Disney. We would like to rent a Villa.We've never been to Florida.
When I went on-line I was amazed by the volume.
Where do I start?
Home owners or resort companies
Confused
Brian
caroline
03-12-2002, 21:47
Hi Brian
Definitely with Home owners :D
Best thing is either to browse the list of villas and then enquire about the ones that appeal to you or if it's a little overwhelming send out a general enquiry from the home page - I'm sure you'll enjoy looking through all the replies and then selecting the home that suits your family's requirements....
Hope you find a villa you like
Dear Brian
Why don't you just have a look at the villas here on Orlando Villas.com?
Do a general enquiry and see what villas are available for you to choose from. I think you'll find we villa owners are very friendly and helpful, and have the time to answer loads of questions.
You can always have a look at a resort company and then see what you like the best, and who you thought was the nicest to deal with!:)
We all love our villas, spends as much time as we can in Florida and are only to happy to offer advice. After all, we can all remember our first time here - how magical it can be, and if you are coming for a week you want to be sure that you get the best out of every day. So take the worry about the accommodation away and decided how many bedrooms you want, and go from there.
Stick to this site as most owners on here are verified and all are private homeowners so you will not be besieged by management companies. Decide on a budget and pick some houses out within this budget and send availability enquiries. Or you can send out a general enquiry which will go out to everyone but expect a lot of replies to wade through. Some of us accept credit card payments which helps alleviate the currency difficulties ( dont know of any Canadian owners).
There's also a link to a lot of useful info on renting a vacation home for the first time on the front page of this site (www.orlandovillas.com) but if you want to ask anything not covered, just let us know and we'll do our best to answer.
If you know how many of you are staying, then that will give you a guide as to the number of bedrooms you will need. If you have a tight budget, then each home on here has their prices on their page. If you rent from a private owner, the prices are likely to be less expensive than renting the same home via a resort company. There's a map (also on the front page - see above) which will give you an idea where the communities are located and also some descriptions of what they're like.
Florida's a great place for a vacation and a vacation home is much more relaxing than staying in a hotel as it's just like home!
MsRuthieB
28-12-2002, 08:17
I started in October looking for a villa for the first part of July 2003. There is such a variety in homes that I first had to make up my mind what was an absolute necessity for my and my family. So I made a list that included number of bedrooms, distance from the airport and WDW, if it had a pool, was the pool private, etc. I found that I could actually pick out exactly what I wanted by renting from a private owner rather than take what they would give me had I rented from a rental company or such. Although, I'm sure the accomodations probably would have been nice, I wanted everything to be just so. I had more control of what I was getting by going through a private owner. I then went through and listed about 12 of them that I was interested in. If a listing has an online availability calander that's a plus. I then narrowed it down even further based on decor. Was the decorating sparse or did it have a homey feel? I ended up with about 5 in the finals that were available. I then did the research on the remaining ones. I could verify 3 through the State of Florida public records, mortgage deeds and land owners (also on line). 2 of them I could not. Well, during the process of all of this, one of the 3 that I could verify rented. I based my final decision out of the two, which were the identical price and amentities, on how nice the owner was to me and how trustworthy and honest I perceived the person to be.
I am totally comfortable with my decision. But, the nice people here at Orlando Villas has already done alot of this work for you. And, from what I've read, this site has a great reputation. It's up to you I guess and how much work you're willing to put in and how important your accomodations are.
kkevingo
30-12-2002, 01:18
hi everybody
im hoping to go to orlando in easter 2003
i have 2 children aged 14 and 12, myself and good lady wife
never been before so its a minefield for me
hoping somebody can give me some tips etc about the best thing to do regarding villas the best way to take and exchange money etc
we are looking for a 3 bed villa not to far from main attractions or some nightlife restuarants shops etc
thanks in anticipation
kevin
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
30-12-2002, 01:31
Hi Kevin
You've found the best place to ask about your trip - welcome!
First thing I'd say is to make some enquiries and decide on a villa as soon as possible as Easter is the busiest time of year for villa owners and a lot of villas will already be booked for Easter 2003 already (we sold Easter 2003 in our own 3 bed villa about a year ago!).
The best thing to do is use the form at the foot of any 3 bed villa on www.orlandovillas.com or www.vacation-rental-villas.com and tick the 'Send to all 3 bed owners' box. This means that your enquiry will get sent to all the 3 bed owners we have, ensuring the ones with availability get back to you. You should expect to get replies (assuming anyone has availability) almost immediately.
I'd also be thinking about booking flights very soon if you have not done already as they are likely to be very busy.
Kevin, you also ask about taking money. I take American Express Dollar Travellers cheques which are very convenient because you can spend them in shops and restaurants like money and they give you change in dollars. This means you dont really have to change money at a bank when you are in America. Most UK banks now do dollar travellers cheques. Dont take sterling ones as the mighty greenback is the only ballgame in town in the US.
When we go to the USA we take some American Express Travellers cheques like Julie, however they take credit cards no problem and we tend to use ours a lot while we are there:D
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
30-12-2002, 02:57
We tend to take the minimum in cash (last time it was £200 worth of dollars) and then pay for everything on VISA and worry about it when we get back. Also means you are not having to carry around huge amounts of cash.
American Express also do travellers' cheques for two, which means that two people sign them on collection but either can spend them separately from the other person. Useful in case of emergencies - otherwise make sure there are several people with a stash of their own travellers' cheques.
As Ruth suggested, credit cards are also widely used in US but remember that some credit card companies charge you a premium of around 2.75% on everything you buy abroad so it may be cheaper to save your credit card for those emergency must have items!
It is a credit card based culture but do not blindly think that everywhere takes Visa though. Once had an embarrassing time in Steak n' Shake where they definitely do not!!! Only got out without doing the washing up by raiding our sons change purse.
We are with Nationwide for our banking and you can use the debit card from our current account in ATM machines with no extra charges and get a really good exchange rate.
Chris
When we went to florida last year decided to use our till card instead of taking so much cash bank assured me that my card would work in the US so when we went to get cash out no deal very frustrating but not a major prob as American Express travellers cheques (as stated above) are used as cash but try not to get too mant large denomination cheques as some shops pass a stone when you try to pay for your $10 purchase with a $100 cheque...M&S sell $ money +cheques best rate we have found
quote:Once had an embarrassing time in Steak n' Shake where they definitely do not!!! Only got out without doing the washing up by raiding our sons change purse.
There's just been an ad on US TV that Steak 'n' Shake are now taking credit cards!
infotech
06-02-2003, 14:31
I noticed that there has been some mention on this forum regarding credit card payments. Anyone can set up and take payments via the internet, cheaply and easily.
Try www.paypal.com which is FREE to set up by the way.