Pricing and what to expect

[Anita]

We have booked flights to visit Orlando for 4,5 weeks next summer and trying to find a place to stay. We have found 3 houses that we love but we turned down one of them since it was a bit expensive compared to the other (same price but less space).

The mail I got in return got me thinking. It said that one get what one pays for and that he/she hoped I didnt get dissapointed for chosing a cheaper option...

But what can we expect? And which prices do I look at. The discountet one or the original one? Since we are staying for such a long time we have from some homeowners gotten a large discount, does this make the house less attractive?

Is there any "pricing-policy" between OV home owners?

Thank you for takning the time to read my questions.

Anita

[lafifille]

You did exactly the right, sensible thing: you searched the villas, found a few you all loved, and decided to make the final decision on what seemed the most important to you. That's perfectly fine.
This "you get what you pay for if you pay a cheaper price you'll be disappointed" has been discussed many times on this forum. As long as you rent from this site, you're fine, all the owners here will tell you that, so I fail to see why owner would send you such an email. As a customer it would actually make me wary of them [msnscared].

Some owners offer discounts for longer stays and they advertise it, it doesn't mean they don't rent a very nice home. If the offer you get satisfies you, take it. If it makes you feel more comfortable, take some time to exchange emails with the owners of the "discounted" villa, and explain to them why you need reassurance. When we first rented we were extremely nervous about it and just were straightforward about it. The owners took the time to put us at ease. Not to mention everybody on this forum! [msnwink] BTW, the villa we rented was not the most expensive and it was exactly as advertised on the website. Our final decision was not based on price, we let the kids pick the one they liked best. it just happened it was one of the cheapest in finalists lot, so to speak.

You'll be fine, and you'll have a great vacation!

If I can throw in another advice: car rentals through this site get you great prices and excellent service, and they're pretty good for tickets too, even delivering at the villa if need be.

[Anita]

Thank you for your answer. I knew when I got the mail that I had made the right choice since it did put me off.

We rentet through this site the last time we went as well, and we didnt go for the most expencive one - and loved it. The house was a lot better than the pictures. Im sorry this house was booked when we are going next year.

I had almost decided on booking a car from Norway, but I'll look into the site you mention. Thanks

[FraserLynn]

All of the above is sound advice. Make contact with the owner, ensure you are comfortable with them and then don't look back. It will all be fine. I wouldn't worry about the bitter comments, I guess some people have to justify their high charges by trying to put down other people rather than selling you the benefits of their villa.

I have said this before, but i have never found a correlation in all the private villa rentals we have done around the world between price and quality, price and service, price and reliability or price and anything else. We have stayed in some great expensive villas some great cheap villas and everything in between.

However, what I have always found a direct correlation between is friendliness, attentiveness and interest of the owner and the quality of the end product. You will find plenty of owners on this site (and dare i say others) who will provide you a great holiday home.

I do think it is a shame that people send these sorts of emails, all it does is make people worry about the integrity of the whole process and undermine the trust that the process relies on - both ways. Everyone looses in the end.

Just a thought, it is probably worth sending an email through to the operators of this site telling them which owner sent you this message so that they can ask them to stop. I guess the other owners (who run reputable businesses advertised here) would be concerned that one of their own was warning people away from their Villas.

[lafifille]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Anita
Thank you for your answer. I knew when I got the mail that I had made the right choice since it did put me off.

We rentet through this site the last time we went as well, and we didnt go for the most expencive one - and loved it. The house was a lot better than the pictures. Im sorry this house was booked when we are going next year.

I had almost decided on booking a car from Norway, but I'll look into the site you mention. Thanks
[/quote]

Whoever you book your car from, make sure all charges are included. But you probably already know that [msnwink]. If the price suits you, you'll get attentive and quick service from UScarhire, some people here can testify they really go out of their way to help if need be.

Enjoy your wait till you go to Florida: planning is half the fun [clap].

[steph_goodrum]

Anita
The way I tend to explain my pricing, if anybody asks me to price match due to the fact they may think they have found a similar villa for less, is that we are a little like a shopping mall, there are a whole range of individual stores who although they may advertise collectively operate on a purely individual basis. As I say, since I am not party to other owners operating costs, investment etc. and have no knowledge of how they arrive at their pricing, I will not compete on that basis. What I do know is how much it costs me to run, repair and improve my property and my pricing is set on that basis.

I personally agree that it does nobody any favours to say that "if you say I'm too expensive and go for a cheaper option that means you are going to get inferior quality". In some cases just as on the High Street you may be lucky and get a bargain in others there are times whne I'm sure we've all wished we had gone for a better quality product (and inevitably if the owners/sellers are doing then their job right that may mean spending a bit more).

As others have said once you find a shortlist and contact the owners you will most likely get a feel for how much they will put into it to make sure you get a great holiday. Cost/budget has to ba factor in ths day and age but it's not always (nor should it) be the only deciding factor and hopefully you'll find one that suits you from all perspectives.

[Anita]

Our budget is $5000 for the 4,5 weeks and most the housing offers for less than that. We even had offers down to $2800. We do know it costs alot to have a home like this to maintain and take that in consideration.

Since the offers spread from $2800 and up to almost $6000 I guess somewhere in the middle would be good.

[Robert5988]

Personally I find the prices on this website to be good value - even the more expensive houses. However there undoubtedly some that are outstanding value and the oft stated "you get what you pay for" is not true IMO.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:What I do know is how much it costs me to run, repair and improve my property and my pricing is set on that basis. .............

and inevitably if the owners/sellers are doing then their job right that may mean spending a bit more).[/quote]

Whilst I can understand this from an owner's perspective; it is of no concern to someone renting if Owner A bought for $500k and has a $400k mortgage whilst Owner B bought years ago(or this year!!!) for peanuts and has no mortgage and feel they can rent for peanuts.

If everyone rented their villa strictly as a business there wouldn't be such disparity in prices or willingness to cut special deals; but the fact is that some people seem don't appear to look on their villa as a business.

Notwithstanding the above, as visitors from Europe are spending many thousands of dollars on their holiday, it is not worth IMO taking a chance on an unknown villa to save a few hundred dollars, provided you are certain(from unbiased recommendation) that the more expensive villa meets their requirements.

[lafifille]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Anita
Our budget is $5000 for the 4,5 weeks and most the housing offers for less than that. We even had offers down to $2800. We do know it costs alot to have a home like this to maintain and take that in consideration.

Since the offers spread from $2800 and up to almost $6000 I guess somewhere in the middle would be good.
[/quote]

Well, if all the villas in that range suit you in all aspects, including thorough contact with the owners, if the feeling is right, why wouldn't you go for the cheapest of the 3? Obviously you've done your homework and gone through everything to narrow it down to 3 villas. Obviously the owner of the most expensive one has done nothing to convince you that his/hers is better than the others, and thus worth the extra expense. Again, from what I've gathered spending time reading on this forum, all villas here should be exactly what they advertise, and sometimes better than that, as you've experienced last year. And there are enough friendly, nice and caring owners here not to bother with one's lack of diplomacy.

[redsandy]

We had large ranging quotes last year. We decided on an area/community and choose from the ones on there. We went for the cheapest as it seemed to be the same from the photos as the others. The owner answered all my questions promptly and nicely and nothing was to much trouble for her. When we got there the villa was as described. Had a fantastic time and wanted to book for this year but was fully booked, which shows you that it was good value and good quality.