September 11, 2020
(Judiciously updated 6/11/22)
Selecting a condo or house for vacation doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here’s a vacation rental comparison worksheet to make it easy!
Why Do I Even Need a Vacation Rental Comparison Worksheet?
Worksheet? You don’t want anything with the word “work” in it, right? Especially if you’re planning a vacation.
You know what? Me neither! But I can tell you, using this method definitely makes the hunt more enjoyable.
This will help you narrow down your choices and make comparisons without losing your mind in the process!
Vacation Rental Comparison List!
A free download for you, to help keep track of rentals that you are considering.
Are you returning to a favorite place? If you still have the name of your property management company, you’re halfway there. Go directly to their website and find your place.
But if you’re wanting to see your options, maybe a new destination or a bigger selection, consider using VRBO for your research.
What’s VRBO?
It stands for Vacation Rental By Owner. A collective website owned by Homeaway, it shows multiple listings all over the world for rentals. You can apply filters for location, features, price, dates, and endless other choices.
You may be seeing listings by individual owners, or you may see listings placed there by property management firms. Either way, it’s a very organized look at specific properties with descriptions and photos to help you find a rental.
How To Use VRBO
You can use VRBO free, with no sign-in. Enter your destination, dates, and any other filters, and you’ll get a list of properties. Most of them will automatically calculate your total cost for you, including taxes and fees.
You can make your reservation directly on the site if you like. It’s a very efficient system, and even will furnish an accurate quote for the total cost.
Total cost is always a surprise. Resort areas often have a higher tax rate than we are accustomed to, and the various fees, travel insurance, etc., can really increase that nightly cost.
Something we had to get used to. Just sayin’.
Researching Properties
I love online research. I just do. I like reviews and specifications and details. I gather lots of information before I make a decision to purchase (or reserve).
So if you’re like that, let me give you a few ideas to do a deeper dive into the listings you see that get your attention.
First, on VRBO, each property has a listing number. It shows on the detail page, and it shows up in the web address (the browser bar at the top of your screen).
What To Notice
If you’re planning to come back and look, at least write down the listing number.
When you find a property you like, there are things you can do to get a little more information.
Try to find the unit number, the complex name, and the address. Sometimes it’s in the description somewhere or in an image among the many pictures. Sometimes it’s not really there. But if you can get it, try a google search for that property.
For instance, if you find a condo, such as Oceanside 2202 Mesa, Arizona on VRBO (I don’t think you will 😜), then you can also do a separate Google search for that unit and you’ll probably find the management company who handles it.
You may find a separate set of reviews, another site that promotes the property, or even a better rental rate.
It all sounds like a lot of organizing. But if you’re like me, looking at those condo pictures and features just gets you excited. Then you start having questions about the bed sizes, or the view, or some of the other features, or the reviews. And you start forgetting what you meant to remember!
If you’re a veteran vacation planner, you may be doing this already (or something even better!).
But if getting all the details together is a little challenging, then please R-E-L-A-X! and banish overload.
Information Overload? I Got You!
Diving into the research means you’ll want to remember a lot of what you find. The more information you gather, the more you start to see some preferences.
Good news: Instead of a thousand notes about features, price, available dates, etc., you can gather that information systematically and get a clearer idea of the best property for your family.
That’s what the Vacation Rental Comparison spreadsheet will do for you.
VRBO does offer some tools for keeping track, and those may be “shareable” if you have a big multi-family trip you are planning. I haven’t tried them, but I can see how it would be helpful.
If you do have someone else to consult with, you can easily reference the VRBO listing number to quickly get them to the right property so they can review it.
All that to say this: The organization and filters for the VRBO way of doing things is very helpful.
But if that tech-savvy stuff is too much, just print this rental comparison sheet and write in your notes. Or save it as a vacation file and type your search results in. Add a column if there’s another feature you need. It’s an Excel file.
You can even create a copy for next year if you want. That’s what I do. I make sure to list the year somewhere on the page, so that I can look back at our favorites in the years to come.
Remember: all the vacation downloads I’m supplying can be saved right on your computer.
How? In Documents, just add a new folder and name it Vacation. I just save all my documents there, and find them easily each year.
Don’t Forget This:
Oh, and speaking of extra things thrown in, (were we speaking of that?) please remember to take a few minutes to locate Urgent Care, Hospital, and Pharmacy at your destination before you go. You need the address and phone number. And make sure you have the contact information for your own physician and your dentist.
If your toddler gets sick and dehydrated and needs IV fluids, you can drive to the hospital because you already know where it is.
If you get sick and need a prescription called in by your doctor, you’ll have the information they need without having to search for it under pressure.
You also will appreciate having all this if you develop a tooth abscess.
For the parents, friends, and family members who had to deal with these things on some of our trips, I am grateful for your contribution to this knowledge.
There’s a space on the planner for this information.
I’m boring you, I know.
If you don’t need this during your trip, I owe you ten minutes. If you do need it, you’ll understand why it was so important.
You Ready?
I am! I’m a big fan of beach trips, a big fan of family togetherness, and a big fan of returning to a place that’s happy.
And obviously a big fan of looking at the pictures when I can’t go.
Please be sure to check out the rest of this vacation series, including
Hey, friends, how about a little bonus? An organization article came to me in an e-mail from The Container Store: Here’s the link to some great travel tips, mostly car organization. In fact, these products could be helpful all the time, not just on a road trip. It’s The Container Store’s article called Road Trip Organization Essentials. If your car clutter is out of control, you’ll be encouraged!
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Thank you!
Your visit here at GFP makes my staycation here a lot happier! This whole series was published during the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19.
This is the last of the four topics on Vacation Planning. Maybe you have read this at a time of year when you’re not vacationing. (I am not vacationing, too.)
Just know that these were all designed to make the planning and the trip much more pleasant.
Happy traveling, friends.
( 😉 Even if it’s just on your computer screen during the pandemic.)
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-Grammye
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