what should we look for when renting a villa

[DianeW]

Before renting a villa what should we look for. Should we look at the area or the size of the villa or should we look at price. And do all villas come with information on how to get to places, and car rental numbers

[JOHNNY BOY]

There are lots of things to look for when choosing a villa for a holiday. The main thing I would say is you choose a villa which best suits your requirements.

The size of the villa is obviously important and will of course depend on the size of your group and number of bedrooms required.

You may also want to be closer to the theme parks, require a games room, or internet connection. There are lots of things to take into account and of course as with most things the price will be a factor.
Some villas will have lake or woodland settings, some will have community facilities, It is really down to personal choice.

Most owners will be more than happy to provide information and answers to any queries you may have.
I would suggest browsing the villas on these sites

http://www.orlandovillas.com/

http://www.onlinefloridavillas.com/

http://www.villasflorida.com/

and then put a general enquiry out with your requirements and dates.

For car hire check out http://www.floridahire.com/ you are sure to get a great deal here and excellent service. Check out the various categories of cars and choose which best suit’s the size of your group bearing in mind luggage space.

JR

[Newhomebuyer]

You need to consider the size of your group as each villa has a maximum number which they are licensed for and you must not exceed that limit. Of course you may be thinking of a split holiday and want to look at homes near the Gulf as well as Orlando
Most villa owners will have a manual inside their homes which will tell you how to get to the attractiona and they will have useful information about the area.
The subdivisions may be a consideration but you are going to spend most of your time inside the villa and its pool area not the estate, so really it is personal choince about what you will enjoy.
Of course if you are going at a busy time many of the popular villas may already be booked so availability is also a factor.
If you know your group number and dates put out an inquiry on the sites listed for homes which will take your group size and you will enjoy looking at the responses.
For car hire you can't do better than http://www.floridahire.com/

[MarkJan]

I would not base a villa choice on price alone. Why not write down a wish list of facilities and also decide how much room you need. If your group is mainly adults, do you want/need king size beds or if you have more children, do you need more twin rooms?

I would presume that most villa owners can provide directions to the villa from whichever airport you are travelling to and also from the villa to the major attractions.

We always use www.floridahire.com (top of page) for car hire; sat-navs are also available there.

I am sure you will find exactly what you want by searching
www.orlandovillas.com
www.villasflorida.com
www.onlinefloridavillas.com

[steph_goodrum]

As you mentioned on another post that your children arent big fun fair fans then you may want to consider adding things like community facilities (tennis/basketball) to your list so if you plan on spending a lot of the time at the villa there are activities away from the home but within a short distance you can enjoyas a family. Many have a larger community pool for example so if they want a more room to swim then they are within a short distance.

Although price will always be a factor, we never make it the overriding factor when we decide where to stay. What we look at mostly is value for money and apppreciate that where we are going is a business and if the price is too cheap tend to wonder why/how they can afford to stay in business at that rate and, especially as we tend to book other places when we aren't visitng Florida, up to a year in advance, if they will still be able to maintain the standard we are looking for by the time our trip comes around, or indeed if they will still be in business. There will always be places that if funds were unlimited we would like to stay but just work out what we need/want and by checking various places if we can aford what we want or if we need to save a bit longer and take the trip a bit later if needs be to achieve it.

[Tonish]

Personally it's in the following order

1. No of bedrooms (must have king size bed)and spacious looking lounge with comfy furniture
2. Size of pool/deck space/privacy at pool
3. Jacuzzi
4. Internet connection
5. No. of TVs and cable(4 kids, stops them fighting)
6. Location
7. Games room for the kids

As regards the location, look at all the communities on this site and the map. To be honest, they're all OK and reasonably equidistant from disney etc. There's really no material difference between a 15 minute drive and a 20 minute drive. Personally I now prefer the communities out by the 27 (generally newer) rather than on the 192 where we used to go, but many others would disagree. I think location is less important than the facilities in the villa, because most of the communities are quite "nice" anyway.

[FraserLynn]

this is a very personal issue, what is really important to some doesn't matter to others. Some things that are important to us are:

South facing deck - we always go in the cooler months and so this really makes a difference

fair rate - not necessarily the cheapest but not over expensive compared to others at the same location

Friendly and helpful owner - some one who takes this seriously - one year we rented direct from an owner (from another site not this one) who took ages to respond to questions, needles to say his villa was not presented as nicely as the others we have stayed

Location

The harsh reality is that an enquiry on here produces so much choice that many get discarded for really trivial reasons i.e the look of the sofa![msnembarrased]

[sundowner]

Many people have made comments on how peaceful and quiet our community is. Particularly when you are trying to get little ones to bed.

Another comment we had was that they like to bake (helps them relax)- little things make a big difference once you have worked out the main factors such as bedrooms (it is not pleasant to sleep on a sofa bed in the lounge for 2 weeks).

I would say that all of the owners on the sites listed above provide a 'home' (many luxurious) not just a place to sleep.

Have fun deciding and relax when you get there.

[chrizzy100]

If 2 families are sharing...two Masters are a must...I've seen to many friends fall out over that one...
I can't say we need much on holiday...in a Villa I do like to see thought gone into the funiture...a few look a bit motel...I've got nothing against that in a motel...but a Villa needs to be a bit more upmarket..