What are your "Must Haves" in a vacation rental?

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bdkane
Posts: 363
Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:48 am
Location: Long Island, NY

What are your "Must Haves" in a vacation rental?

Post by bdkane »

Hi All,

I recently have been fortunate enough to purchase a home in Florida that I will be using as a vacation rental. As I want it to be a successful rental I figured what group of people could help me out better than this board?

Could you share with me some of your "Must haves" in a rental?
Also what are some of those little things that just make you say hummm... that was nice.

My rental is more a month to month rental or seasonal rental and is very near to the beach(500ft). Many of the smaller like like soaps, toiletries and such will be initially provided but then on the tenant to purchase.

Some things i really appreciate in a rental:

Bath AND Beach towels, and plenty of them
An Ice make ( commercial- Reef Madness style!)
GOOD batteries in all remotes controls - why are they ALWAYS dead?

Thanks! :wink:
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liamsaunt
Posts: 5968
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:08 pm

Re: What are your "Must Haves" in a vacation rental?

Post by liamsaunt »

I have rented homes in Florida a bunch of times, back when I used to take the kids to Disney instead of St. John. Here is what I appreciated:

Air conditioning :D

Labels on all of the wall switches. I hate having to spend a bunch of time figuring out which switch does what.

Instructions on how to operate the sound system/tv/etc.

Comfy mattress, lots of pillows, decent linens (if you are providing linens)

Lots of towels in the bathroom/for the beach

A decently stocked kitchen. Good quality pots and pans are really appreciated. Also, a strainer, peeler, corkscrew, kitchen shears, grater, and an assortment of cutting boards. Knives are probably wishful thinking. I have never found decent knives in a rental, so now I always bring my own. I have this set and it is great for traveling:


http://www.amazon.com/Wusthof-Classic-7 ... travel+set


Since you are thinking of renting long term, the kitchen stuff really is important. Nobody is going to eat out every day for a month!
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
PA Girl
Posts: 4485
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2006 11:55 am

Re: What are your "Must Haves" in a vacation rental?

Post by PA Girl »

Congrats on your new place!

I have lost count of the number of vacation homes we have rented. We are lucky enough to have a couple of friends that own beach houses so I get to see it from both sides by hearing their stories.

Ditto on the towels. I think at minimum, two bath towels and two beach towels per person are necessary. Enough towel bars to dry them between uses is also important if you would like people to reuse them. This is one thing that drives me nuts on STJ. For all the preaching about water and energy conservation, I have yet to rent a house that has adequate towel drying rods/racks. I am happy to reuse towels at home and on vacation if I can air dry them.

The kitchen should be clutter free at the same time as being well stocked. If the house sleeps 6, services for 8 or 10 are adequate. (Or enough so there is a place setting for each person as well as extras for cooking, serving, etc.) There is no need to clog up the drawers with four different sets of silverware in addition to the main one, keep only what is needed.

I remember one set of friends was really offended when their management company told them to stop bring cast offs from home to the beach house, telling them if it wasn’t good enough for their home, don’t bring it to the rental. (Their place was loaded with lots of crappy, battered house wares that should have been tossed.)

I want real glasses and dishes, not plastic or melamine. (plastic for the pool area is ok) I have a weekend getaway place that gets hard use and I understand frustrations with breakage but I just can’t stand plastic/melamine for everyday use. I pick up wine glasses whenever I see them on sale so the cost is reasonable. I get our drinking glasses off of Amazon so as 3 or 4 get broken, I can replace them quickly. This has the advantage of replacing only what I need without needing to discard mismatched survivors, everything matches.
bdkane
Posts: 363
Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:48 am
Location: Long Island, NY

Re: What are your "Must Haves" in a vacation rental?

Post by bdkane »

liamsaunt, Thank you for the ideas... YES - Labels on the switches and sound system instructions... i hate when I'm in a rental and am just figuring theses things out by day 7! I just hit Amazon and ordered all the little kitchen item, including a hand lime juicer.

PA Girl, I will be ordering plastic for the pool but do have glass as well. As mentioned good idea on all new for that kitchen draw, I love when there are 4 crappy spatulas but no can opener ;-) I did pick up plenty of towels, im hoping this will allow for drying time and not so much use of the washer/dryer

Thank you both for the responses - Im going to practice this property manager thing in FL for now with hopes of someday doing it in STJ... someday
AquaGirl
Posts: 913
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:59 pm
Location: Fairfax, Virginia

Re: What are your "Must Haves" in a vacation rental?

Post by AquaGirl »

All of the above, plus a few more thoughts:

Toaster oven and blender, of course. Large colander for washing fruit and veggies.

A small, medium and large cooler. I like to have a choice of sizes and sometimes take a small and large if we are out for the whole day. This might not be as important since you are so close to the beach, but we really like this on STJ.

Serving trays, especially if you have a dining area outside. One villa we stayed in had no serving trays and the pavilion was a bit of a walk from the kitchen.

Plastic containers of different sizes. We often get carryout, then use the leftovers for another meal. I also like to have cut up veggies in the frig for our beach picnics. While I do take and use ziplocks, I think its better for the environment to use reusable plastic containers.

Cookie trays. Yes, we actually bake cookies on vacation sometimes. I like my homemade cookies, instead of store bought.

Where is your house in Florida? We plan to move to Florida when we retire, but haven't picked the location yet.
bdkane
Posts: 363
Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:48 am
Location: Long Island, NY

Re: What are your "Must Haves" in a vacation rental?

Post by bdkane »

AquaGirl, Being that we were on the fence with renting we did invest in some nice appliances such as blender, toaster, tv etc. I also purchased a couple coolers, hard and soft, beach chairs , umbrellas...

I should stock up on plastic containers they would be handy for monthly renters Im sure they will like to eat in and save a couple bucks, definitely need to get some cookie trays. My kids always ask for some cookies while we are on St John and they rarely have trays in the villas.

Our house is in Vero Beach, its about an hour North of West Palm Beach, quite little beach town on a barrier Island, (GREAT area to invest) very family orientated, in some areas the streets are sand and lined with spanish moss and southern live Oak trees.
Thanks so much for your input :wink:
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