Book a vacation condo?

I booked a Florida condo from here (Toronto) about twelve years ago using a travel agent. I had no way of knowing if it was nice at the time, except to trust the agent. It ended up being pretty spectacular, but we paid through the nose. I suspect you may now be able to take virtual tours, that kind of thing.

yeah I don't want to pay through the nose. We don't need anything incredible - just something that will fit a family of four and is clean and safe. Since this will be in December/January we don't even care about a pool - although I would assume that a pool comes with all these sorts of places in FL.

A pool somewhere in the complex seems likely.

I might still sound it out with an agent. Can't cost anything to ask.

Linkat, I saved an article about this sort of question about a month ago. I'll see if I can find it and be back.

oooh cool!

I've used VRBO.com before and had good luck

We usually try to hire directly from the owner - that's cheaper than via an agency or travel company.

The places are presented in catalogues and/or on websites with photos and other details. Very seldom it might have happen that the apartment (or house) looks really different then presented.

Thanks to google earth and Virtual Earth, you can see nowadays how it looks like in advance.


The question of "safe" never was (and really still sin't) a big issue here in Europe. If at all.

Clean isn't a problem neither: you usually pay for the 'final cleaning' - as did the person(s) who hired the place before.

When we did Vegas we found a great place on Craigslist, and for most big US cities that's the first place I'd look.

Found it --

http://able2know.org/topic/123702-1

Thanks - that site looks awesome - some good deals too! And lots of stuff is open from November to December.

ooh didn't even think about that - do you know if you get references and pictures - I always get worried I would end up in some sort of dump with bugs and lice in the beds.

thanks - lots of good info.

I would just like to second VRBO. My dad uses it at least once a year to rent a condo in Colorado. We have stayed in a different condo each time, and have never had a problem with any of them. They are always as described, and with the pictures and such on the site, you know exactly what your getting.

We've travelled that way for many, many years. Perfect solution when travelling with kids. More space. Freedom to cook, to eat out. Your choice. Full kitchens, usually well enough equipped for a week or more. Most houses have BBQ grills, condos have grilling areas. Your own washers and dryer, etc. Home away from home!

Vacation rentals in the Orlando/Disney area are very reasonable, even during Christmas week. I'm assuming that that's because of the huge numbers of rentals available that are competing with each other.

VRBO.com is a great site. There's also homeaway.com, cyberrentals, vacationrentals.com and many, many more, but those are my favourites.

How do you know that you are getting a clean, safe condo? Talk to the owner. Most people are on the up and up, I've found. If the owner uses it as a second home, as opposed to it being strictly a rental property, it's probably better equipped. The more photos posted on the website, the better idea you will have of what to expect. Some owners have links to more photos.

I agree with Walter. Once you have the address, you can find the property on Google Earth and also Google Maps. If "street view" is available, you can "walk" down the streets and see what the area looks like.

Are you restricted to school vacation dates, Linkat?

I have a timeshare week that I won't be using but getting the week between Christmas and New Years will be difficult.

The are many resorts in the Orlando/Kissimmee/Lake Buena Vista area including some gold crown resorts with 2 bedrooms/2baths/full kitchens but most of the available weeks are in January. From a quick look, I can see lots of availability in mid-to-late January.

BTW, January is the perfect time to go to the parks because the lines are nonexistent. We were there once during the last week of January and were told that it's the least crowed week of the year at Disney.

Well - part of the reason we were thinking this week is - if we sell our condo here, we will be relocating to Texas. Because of the timing, we most likely will be living in corporate/temporary housing. I figure that would put a tamper on Christmas - so to compensate, Santa would give the kids a trip to Disney.

There is alot of ifs there especially with the current market - but our condo is priced well below anything comparable in the immediate area.

Thanks - I'll look at all those sites - if we don't go this Christmas, we will definately keep this info as I know we will visit some time in the next year or two.

Your girls are the perfect ages to enjoy the parks. We liked not staying on-site when we were there because we didn't feel the need to do Disney every day. We enjoyed SeaWorld and Universal Studio parks as much as Disney. Actually, we enjoyed SeaWorld more than Disney.

I second (or third?) vrbo.com
I have had tons of success with this site.

Beware however, it has become like google insofar as the ads that come up first are not necessarily the best, rather, they represent the amount the owner paid to have priority placement.

But, that face aside, I have booked many getaways with vrbo and always been pleased with the price.