I'm sure you've seen the websites for vacation home rentals and wondered if they were legit or not. We've rented in the past from
Endless Vacation Rentals and
Home Away. They often even have deals on hotels, not just homes and often have last minute deals. Once, we scored a hotel for one week from Endless Vacation for $159 on a last minute booking!
Recently, we went on vacation with some friends who have 3 children. Between our two families totaled 7 kids! She did some research and found a home rental company called,
Evolve. She submitted an inquiry for a quote on a place large enough to accommodate us. For the week we were looking at, it would cost a little over $1,000 for SIX days for a 5 bedroom, 4 bath home with it's own private pool! For two families, that's $500 each! Much cheaper than a hotel. We paid the 20% down and booked it! They request the balance paid off one month prior. We were nervous about extra hidden charges and fees, but they had everything broken down in the first quote (cleaning fees, taxes). Once the balance was paid, they email you the full address, key location, gate codes. It all seemed to go smoothly.
This was the first time we had rented a HOUSE, and I fell in love with the idea!
This house was part of a gated community, so the kids thought it was awesome that we had to use a ticket to get in each time. It was like having your own private security guards.
We were praying that we hadn't been scammed with this house rental. Even though we had researched the company and the pictures looked FABULOUS! You just don't know until you see it in person.
But alas, we arrived to this:
And, the pool wasn't smaller in person than the picture suggested. It was a regular full size pool, and it was HEATED! Our only issue was that the hot tub didn't work, but that was fine for us. The younger kids used it like their own private kiddie pool.
You can't tell, but the pool also has a tall baby gate to close it off.
A full kitchen, complete with high chair, dishes, pans, silverware, coffee pot! We quickly located the nearest store, which was a SuperTarget less than two miles away. Perfect!
And, I was a tad nervous that being in a tourist location, we would be facing higher prices. But, they were the same and some things were cheaper than back home. If we choose to vacation in this same area again, I will pack less and just get at Target after arriving.
And, not only did it have a breakfast eating nook, it had a full dining room.
And, living room with flat screen T.V. and cable.
One of the kids rooms. There were two that had twin beds, a girl themed one and boy themed one. I'm not sure if that was standard, or if they did it based on our families?
There were also TWO master suites that had their own bathrooms, and a bedroom that had just one queen bed. Worked perfect because each parent unit had their own bathroom, the boys had their own and our friends girls had a bathroom to themselves as well.
We also found the neighborhood park. It was castle themed. The kids had fun playing save the princess from the dragon.
AND, as if that wasn't enough.....the neighborhood club house had a water park attached!!!!
I highly recommend staying in a house. It also had a pack and play for infants and came with three strollers! We were able to all have privacy, where a hotel you are limited to all being stuck in ONE room together.
My favorite things about renting a house:
*Cheaper than a hotel (depending on the size of house you rent and number going with you)
*It's more like home for the kids. Makes relaxing MUCH easier if they don't feel like their daily routine is too messed up.
*Separate rooms for little ones to nap! In a hotel, it's extremely difficult during nap time to keep older ones quiet so little ones can nap.
*Save money by preparing meals instead of eating out. We prepared breakfast, packed lunches, and came back for dinner each day.
*It was great being able to prepare breakfast each day and let the kids have lazy mornings instead of rushing to get dressed and hurry down before the hotel breakfast buffet closed up.
*Easy to keep supplies on hand like snacks, milk, ice cream (instead of going out for ice cream), and freeze water bottles for carrying each day.
*The kids LOVED being able to swim each night while we prepared dinner.
*Easier to have a lazy day instead of feeling like the hotel walls are closing in on you!
*Loved having the park and pool within walking distances!
*Went home with NO laundry!!!!! The house had a washer and dryer so we washed everything before going home. It also allowed us to pack less knowing we could wash things during vacation.
And, we could have movie nights with hot cocoa and popcorn! Hard to prepare those items in a hotel.
This was by far our best family vacation to date! I will definitely be looking for a house rental again on our next family trip.
