Good, Bad, and Ugly about Renting Pool Homes and Town Homes

[isla bonita]

I can understand how if renting from perfect strangers or a management co that handles rental properties can be scary, Maybe we can ease some mind about the experiences you all have had.

We rented once before we bought our own. I had never stayed in a rental home and thought it would be a nightmare with every one in the same house.

I was so wrong! It was one of our best ever vacations. Thats why when we got an opportunity to purchase on ourselves we jumped on it. No regrets at all.

Thinking back to the first rental the only thing it did not have were pool towels. I have made sure with ours there are always plenty. Our favorite part of vacation is the pool. No matter what we do while there. Coming from new england we don't get a lot of pool time in so we make up for it while there.

Any one want to rant about what they didn't like or what they did like for that matter? I think we all should know the good the bad and the ugly.

[congregation]

Thinking about renting one this winter. Hopefully get some extended famliy to come and get a big one. The pool definately would be great!

[Snoopymom]

The only bad and ugly I can come up with is having to tell family members a big fat ugly "NO!!!!" when they invite themselves to go down with you after you asked them back in January when you made all the plans and paid the deposit...but now that it's warm and sunny and they think they might get to come for free since the house is already paid for....well, NO! :furious:

Sorry, bad day, feeling guilty, talk about ruining all the fun in the planning. Well, maybe it will be a warning to someone else, LOL!

[HalfDozen]

Good:

One nightly fee - no matter how many people in the party - no buying two "connecting rooms" onsite if you have more than 2 kids. :thumbsup2

NO PARKING LOTS! Oh, that saved us so many times. No walking across the parking lot with bags and diaper bags and strollers and whatever else

No carrying sleeping kids across a parking lot and having to wake them up. We took turns carrying in the kids because we entered either through the garage or parked in the driveway.

No expensive onsite meals - even if it's eating bananas and bagels in the house, or barbecuing or ordering pizza for dinner - it's more laid back and affordable.

Full size fridge

Blenders - margaritas! Need I say more?

private pool - no random kids splashing your baby in the face, no kids wearing leaky swim diapers, etc.

hot tub

QUIET - no one to wake up the kids in the middle of the night, no loud music, no unsupervised teens, no slamming doors or elevators

Laundry - yes, a plus ;) We threw a load in before bed every night (free!) and changed it over to the dryer in the morning when we headed out. We brought home suitcases of CLEAN laundry and didn't have to fight Mount Neverrest on our first day back at work.

Management company immediatley accessible - located just minutes from the house.

BAD:
no housekeeping

no towel animals

no tiny toiletries

no onsite transportation

UGLY:
nadda. Far more pros than cons! :)

[kimbac3]

My cons... If you are a rental house owner please check your tv remote batteries. Maybe replace often. I can't tell you how frustrating that was. Also A cordless phone is such a blessing. I hate being tethered!!
Another thing, please have your management company check your towels for holes. Ours where so holey it was ridiculous. It just felt to us that the home was unloved and unkept. They had a lovely soaking tub in the master bath with no stopper!!! Crazy!
We also had the joy of the smoke detector going off in the middle of the night. There was no smoke or fire just an old smoke dectector going goofy (DH is an electrician/alarm tech and he did let the management co. know - be sure to replace them every 5 years!)

My Pros....we did enjoy having the space to spread out. (of course having more space led to more space to have to clean up before we left. Stuff just went everywhere!!)
The kids each had their own beds,that was nice.
Also 2 bathrooms..definite plus!!
Having a kitchen with full size frig was nice.

We rented a different place this time. It's a little newer so maybe it will be in better shape!!
Kimba

[disneygirlatheart]

This will be the second time we have rented a home. We have one booked for our first trip to WDW. Our first time renting was a nightmare. The management company they had was a joke. They sent us to the wrong house, charged extra when we arrived, food in the chairs when we arrived, and I can go on and on but will spare you. I hope that our experience this time is a lot better. We are very nervous, and want every thing to be perfect for our first trip to see the mouse.

[isla bonita]

I have to say kimbac3 and disneygirlatheart you are brave to be doing it all again. Not sure I would have if it was a nightmare.

[kimbac3]

I have to say kimbac3 and disneygirlatheart you are brave to be doing it all again. Not sure I would have if it was a nightmare.

Well I love an adventure! :rotfl: Seriously it still is the best value for a family of 5 or more. 2 rooms just won't work for us and that would be double what we paying for the rental home. I'm hoping that because we have done it once before I chose more wisely this time...well I can hope anyway! :goodvibes
Kimba

[isla bonita]

Kimbac3 ask a lot of questions. Find what you like and didn't like of the last home and ask specifics. Ask if the pictures are recent. Also the best information is right here. Ask if anyone has rented from the owner/man/co before. That I think is the most reliable. We are a wealth of information together and you are bound to find out what you want to know. Have a great time searching thre are a wonderful array to choose from. With being individual owners you can see the choices are endless, just like the areas they are in.

[Brian Noble]

Most of the "goods" are obvious. Some of the not-so-obvious ones: I was surprised at how much I loved having a washer/dryer in the unit rather than in some central location---much easier to pack light. Extra bedrooms are obviously useful, but extra bathrooms were surprisingly useful.

The "bads" (compared to onsite): Splitting up is hard to manage, unless you've got more than one car. (compared to any hotel): Sometimes, it's nice if someone else makes the bed/vacuums/does the dishes while you're there. The shopping-for-lodging part is much harder, because each property is different, and there are a LOT of them.

The "uglies": hasn't happened to me yet, but because every property is individual, it's hard to know what you are getting unless you've got a personal recommendation, and you can be surprised about quality, fit, and finish when you arrive.

[disneysteve]

I agree with everything HalfDozen said with two exceptions. We consider no housekeeping to be a good thing. We hate having a maid come into our room every day and move stuff around. We're not slobs. In 7 days, the place just doesn't get that dirty. We'd rather have privacy.

We also don't consider the lack of onsite transportation to be an issue. Even when we stay onsite, we still drive everywhere we go. We can't stand depending on Disney transportation, waiting in line and getting on crowded buses. Much more comfortable in our own car.

We've rented pool homes 4 or 5 times and rented a condo once (and will again this fall). I think it is the greatest way to go all around. Nothing at all bad to say about it.

[sweetpeakaris]

A little bit about our recent experience when we rented a Condo at Windsor Hills. First off the owners were very nice and friendly over the phone, great communication. The Condo however had a few issues. It was obvious the cleaning crew half cleaned the place, the fridge was dirty, trash can in the kitchen was dirty, ring around the second bath tub, kitchen sink had food stuck in it, tons of fingerprints on the glass sliding doors, dining room table had not been wiped off, some silverware in the drawer was dirty. The Condo itself was beautiful, I don't blame the Owners as I'm sure they were unaware that the Cleaning Crew didn't do a great job cleaning. The Condo didn't have enough Face Towels or pool towels, no board games to play, had a Playstation but no games, had a DVD and VCR but no movies, a Broom but no Dust Pan. Not nearly enough pots and pans for cooking! The master Bed was the most uncomfortable thing I've ever slept on, it had to be one of the cheapest mattresses sold whereever it was purchased. Nothing like spending hours walking around a theme park then coming back to a thin mattress, you could even feel the springs in it, very poor quality. We also had an issure with the master toilet, and a Plunger would have been helpful. It was plugged when we arrived, we didn't know it until we flushed it, it started to overflow, my husband quickly stuck a hanger in there to unplug(gross). Overall we had a ok experience, I would never rent that Condo again, but will stay at Windsor Hills again, the resort was beautiful!

[sweetpeakaris]

March 2005, we rented a home at Eagle Pointe. The home was spotless, very clean, had everything you could think of, well equipped! Only negative thing is the pool, it had clearly not been cleaned in a while. I called management 3 times to clean it, they never came during our 8 night stay, the kids were upset they didn't get to use it. Management stayed right in the sub, they told me they would send someone to clean it, but that "someone" never arrived and I got tired of calling them.Overall Great experience!

[kimbac3]

Kimbac3 ask a lot of questions. Find what you like and didn't like of the last home and ask specifics. Ask if the pictures are recent. Also the best information is right here. Ask if anyone has rented from the owner/man/co before. That I think is the most reliable. We are a wealth of information together and you are bound to find out what you want to know. Have a great time searching there are a wonderful array to choose from. With being individual owners you can see the choices are endless, just like the areas they are in.

I have been asking (via email) the owner alot of questions. I sometimes feel like I'm a bother! She never seems to be bothered though. I haven't actually spoken to her on the phone, only email. I did call her management co and asked them a question. I checked out their website too. I asked on here about the development but not the specific house. I just never thought to do that. Hmm...maybe I'll do that.
Thanks for the tips. It is pretty nerve wrecking handing over all that money, only hoping and praying that the house is as good as it looked on the web.

Kimba

[disneysteve]

I just wanted to point out that rental homes are available lots of places, not just Disney. Just last nite, I booked a 3-bedroom chalet in Stowe, VT for our summer vacation. We were looking for something roomy and different, rather than just staying in a hotel. Really looking forward to that trip.

[HalfDozen]

I agree with what you said above, Steve. I don't see those as cons for our family, either. I'd rather have my own car (and carseats for the kids) and the freedom to come and go as I please without waiting for busses - and I love not having a maid. We call and decline housekeeping when we travel. I just don't always trust that my things are going to remain where I left them - whether because they were moved or swiped, yk? I don't think "Mousekeeping" would do it - but I've read stories about computers, wallets, etc. going missing - and we just don't need our bed made every day with new linens, etc. :confused3 And we can always throw them in the washer - or the towels for that matter. :) And no hanging suits or wet towels all over a tiny hotel room - we throw those in the dryer as well.

[Sue Sullivan]

We just booked our fourth rental at Highlands Reserve in Davenport. It's a beautiful development and the houses are so roomy. We go with extended family so it's like $50 a night each family, including tax. We save of $ on meals and have a pool of our own. We would not do it any other way. We get the listings from villas2go4.

[isla bonita]

Sweetpeakaris and others when you have a problem and the man/co refuses to budge if you have rented from an owner call them directly. I know I would have more then a big problem if my home was that dirty. Also if you think the home needs items by all means when you have a moment email the owner. They should want all of the information you are repeating. If you were in need of anything I am sure the future guests will also.

Kimbac3 ask away. You are spending a lot of money to stay in a rental home. It should be exactly what you want. There are never enough questions. You need to feel that you are putting your money into something worth while. There will not be any repeat customers if you come back from vacation and it was a bust. Not good for business for the owner. We want you all to feel assured.

As you all know owning a home has its unexpected happenings. Recently a guest was not allowed to use my pool for 24 hours because of a mistake the pool co. did. Also the phone would not work at some locations. Sent in a work order. Both are pretty big issues and I acted on both but it is not something rentors should have to have happen but they do. Things do happen and they are rather annoying. There are things that should not be. Dirty home or pool is the worst totally avoidable. There should be enough clean and unblemished towels sheets, and blankets for your comfort. Enough dishware and silverware. Other items are up to each owner, and for the guest to decide what would be best for their group.

I can not stress enough to ask every question you have. Do not feel like you are bothering them. Personally I can talk about my home like it is my fourth child.

[horseshowmom]

I just wanted to point out that rental homes are available lots of places, not just Disney. Just last nite, I booked a 3-bedroom chalet in Stowe, VT for our summer vacation. We were looking for something roomy and different, rather than just staying in a hotel. Really looking forward to that trip.

I agree with this and always like to check VRBO. I've never had a problem with a house that I've booked in the Orlando area (and I've stayed at several different houses).

I did have a problem a couple of years ago when I booked a house in San Antonio. It was a beautiful old two-story ranch house that had been restored - absolutely gorgeous. It was beautifully furnished and had lots of room. We (and the other family traveling with us) loved it - until the scorpions came out. We had 4 scorpions in a 24 hour period. The lady taking care of it said it was because they had had so much rain (and I'm sure that was true). Nonetheless, it had the other wife scared to death that her little ones were going to get stung, and we wound up moving into a way overpriced hotel.

[tednvon]

Interesting thread...

Renting a home can have few complaints from the standpoint of space, laundry facilities, pvt pool, and so on.
As a former owner also, I can tell you, and it is obvious from the posts here, that the proof is in the management company.

There are so many management companies now that it is a total gamble on quality. We changed companies because our first one was so bad. Poor management usually equals poor cleaning, poor upkeep, poor service or response to calls from renters, and even mismanagement of funds.

Personally, I think prospective renters are better off always going through an owner via word of mouth or info from a board like this...I know several owners post here a lot and walk a fine line between informing and advertising, but do a nice job of keeping the two separate.

Ugly for us was:
1. missing towels all the time...changing towels to cheaper ones
2. The remote controls...god, the remote controls...always broken, missing, batteries stolen, probably for cameras or games.
3. garbage everywhere when left on the street...those buzzards can open a plastic garbage container no matter how tight it is sealed!!
3. Games room always missing equipment.
4. pool heat set too low or not turned on.
5. phone calls to management not returned

Owners always need feedback from the renters about problems. So renters, don't be afraid to let owners know if there were specific problems. It is the only way they can address the issues.

Carry on!!

Ted

[Kay1]

We're renting a home near Disney for the first time this Christmas, but we stay in a beachside condo every summer. The condo is managed by a real estate company and we've never had a problem. A team of maids cleans it before we get there and they always do a great job. Once, the coffee maker died while we were there and the real estate company asked if we'd like to stop by for a new machine, which we did. I hope all goes as smoothly this Christmas.

We like having a kitchen, plenty of beds, three bathrooms, and three TV's. We like hotels and we like our little camper, but both can be a bit confining, especially in bad weather.

[mbb]

I used to feel bad about my endless questions too, until the last owner we rented from told me "don't worry about it! Knowing the answers makes your vacation go better"..

'Cause I figure I'm not only asking for us - I'm asking for everyone here too!! :teeth: I think the owners on some sites cringe when the get an email/booking enquiry from me!;);)

The facecloth thing is always an issue - minor, though - for us too... Why in a 5 bedroom house would you only have 4 facecloths??

Does the cleaning personnel take them?

And the remote controls - too funny Ted! :teeth:

But we've had remote controls issues at deluxe resorts too..

I will say that the last home we rented was fabulous, the Managment company was great, a wonderful "welcome pack" greeted us, and our owner must have lived next to their computer..I sent them an email our first day, asking some questions about "housekeeping" stuff..

Phone was ringing 30 seconds later...

*That* kind of service makes my vacation go great! :teeth:

:sunny:

[isla bonita]

mbb that's how everyones vacation should go. There will forever be tiny or sometimes major misshaps it is how they are handled.

Replacing a coffee pot Kay1 may be easier then replacing let say a fridge or stove. They will go and as much as we keep up with things it is emails after the stay that tell us what needs to be done. Let the owner know good bad or ugly. At least they were informed. I know it is better to have a heads up so we can avoid something that can be potentially very ugly.

[Robinrs]

The only bad and ugly I can come up with is having to tell family members a big fat ugly "NO!!!!" when they invite themselves to go down with you after you asked them back in January when you made all the plans and paid the deposit...but now that it's warm and sunny and they think they might get to come for free since the house is already paid for....well, NO! :furious:




:lmao: I couldn't agree more!!

The minute I told people I was renting a 4 bedroom, all of a sudden they had a vacation around the 4th of July!! Uh...NO!

My sister HATES Orlando but LOVES to laze around the pool. The last time we rented a vacation home she decided to come down for the weekend. I didn't mind because she LOVES spoiling my son and I could use the rest. Well, she loved it so much she stayed FOUR days.... :furious:.... I love my sister but she is a complete nagging nuisance, needless to say she made that vacation a little less tolerable...ugh...

One night in my first house the alarm went off when I went to answer the phone late at night. I tried to find the box and type in the numbers but the police showed up lickety split. In the paperwork they pointed out that if the authorities are called out on a unwarranted call we would be charged $100! Needless to say I was on the phone with them in the morning and they told me that was added for people who sent out false alarms on purpose, mine was obviously an accident.

Another requirement of mine is a garage door opener... okay, I'm lazy... one house had one and the other didn't. I had my son running up to open and close the door, I guess he was like my own personal remote!

Also, I never rent poolhomes in the dead of winter. We rented once for my son's birthday and the heat of the day was in the 40s in Orlando in January. :earseek: The pool was nice to look at but we couldn't get in it at all!

Other than that there is NOTHING like having a private pool and the privacy of not having other people's children running up and down the hallway outside your door is a PLEASURE! :thumbsup2

[Gillian]

the good - king sized beds, lots of bathrooms, large fridge, freezer, driveway, no one else's kids (mine are trouble enough, thank you)

the bad - pilly sheets, having to run out for remote control batteries, pool that didn't stay clean

We're shopping for a large place with lots of bathrooms for a family trip, but I have a feeling that we might need 2 houses nearby instead. Several people (4 to 6, depending on who goes) are smokers and I know the non-smokers (also 4-6 people) are not going to want to hang by the pool with the smokers all the time. And there is one family who will want to bring their small dog. I think I might not want to plan this one!

[kbmoo]

I have rented 2 years in a row in the orlando area. Great experience. It is so nice to have your own pool and lots of bedrooms & bathrooms. The kitchen & washer & drier were nice too. Lots of tv's so we could watch something differnt. We always get last minute deals too. So a really good deal. The only disadvantage is that we spend alot of time driving to the parks. I am really looking forward to not having to spend so much time traveling to & from the parks.

[kilee]

Like DisneySteve, we've also rented in other places throughout the country. We really enjoy the space, the extra bathrooms, and the washer/dryer. It is a leap of faith, and I think that is the scariest part.

Someone mentioned pots and pans and such. We've yet to stay in a place that had a lot of dishes, pots, and pans. We don't cook much, so this was never an issue for us. I could see if someone was going to be doing a lot of cooking, this would be a problem.

[disneygirlatheart]

I have to say kimbac3 and disneygirlatheart you are brave to be doing it all again. Not sure I would have if it was a nightmare.
We are very nervous, but really wanted the extra room and the pool. Hope we are not disappointed!!

[RedSox1974]

We rented a pool home in Crescent Lakes in February 2005. The home was beautiful, convenient and had nearly everything we could want. But dealing with the management company was a dreadful experience. Prepaid for pool heat but upon arrival had to make several calls over 2 days to get it turned on. The management company was very hard to get hold of, and could not answer basic questions about the home. And though the home was fantastic, it was NOT the home we had chosen and were sent pictures of prior to our trip, making our mapquest directions and some plans useless.

We absolutely will rent a home on our next trip, but we will definately rent directly from the owner.

Having said that... I have been on VRBO.com and orlandoVillas.com. Does anyone know of any owner direct home listing web sites? Thanks in advance

[minnie29uk]

We rented a pool home in Crescent Lakes in February 2005. The home was beautiful, convenient and had nearly everything we could want. But dealing with the management company was a dreadful experience. Prepaid for pool heat but upon arrival had to make several calls over 2 days to get it turned on. The management company was very hard to get hold of, and could not answer basic questions about the home. And though the home was fantastic, it was NOT the home we had chosen and were sent pictures of prior to our trip, making our mapquest directions and some plans useless.

We absolutely will rent a home on our next trip, but we will definately rent directly from the owner.

Having said that... I have been on VRBO.com and orlandoVillas.com. Does anyone know of any owner direct home listing web sites? Thanks in advance

Hi!
You can try www.lastminutevillas.net

Happy hunting,
Lynn

[disneygirlatheart]

We rented a pool home in Crescent Lakes in February 2005. The home was beautiful, convenient and had nearly everything we could want. But dealing with the management company was a dreadful experience. Prepaid for pool heat but upon arrival had to make several calls over 2 days to get it turned on. The management company was very hard to get hold of, and could not answer basic questions about the home. And though the home was fantastic, it was NOT the home we had chosen and were sent pictures of prior to our trip, making our mapquest directions and some plans useless.

We absolutely will rent a home on our next trip, but we will definately rent directly from the owner.

Having said that... I have been on VRBO.com and orlandoVillas.com. Does anyone know of any owner direct home listing web sites? Thanks in advance
greatrentalsdotcom sorry can't post a link yet!!

[JANNYANS]

Owner listing sites

www.Floridapremiumvillas.com

www.Disneypremiervillas.com



www.Floridasupremevillas.com

[Bdadis]

We stayed at a beautiful pool home in Kissimmee last year. The subdivsion that we stayed at is Rolling Hills which is right next to Formosa Gardens. There is an awesome short cut to WDW from there. Funie Steed Rd. takes you to Sherberth Rd. (you actually cross RT 192)and you are at the AK entrance in literally 6 minutes!!! We will do this again in the future ,but this year we wanted to stay on-site.

[TravelinGal]

Here's what I posted yesterday - figured I'd copy it here since my individual post will get buried but this one might stay active

We just got back last Sunday and I wanted to tell you how lovely the rental house we stayed in was!

This is the rental I am discussing below:
http://www.vrbo.com/74118

There were a few glitches, but those were related to the management company. The owner said she is going with a new management company when this contract is up.

The home was clean and nicely furnished. Everything was as promised between the owners and myself.

The two problems we had were
1) the management company had removed HER pack n play (because they rent them out for more $ when booking through them instead of through the owner) - and when they brought me one (day 2) it was filthy (not the brand new one she had personally put in the home just 2 weeks prior). Had to call again and get a clean one. I called both the mgmt company and the owner. Owner was very helpful with this.
2) pool heat was not turned on. got that on, but they still didn't turn on the spa heat. That was done on day 3 (of a 10 day trip). Again, the owner was very helpful in dealing with the local management company.

My warning is to watch out for Fanfair Properties management company. They were the cause of the problems, not the home owner. Although, when we needed the brand new highchair put together, the man who came over to assemble it was very courteous and friendly. And the home was clean/well cared for, so I'd almost wager that the management of the management company is more to blame than the workers. (just thinking "out loud")

Anyway - we would gladly rent from them again.

This is the second time we've rented a pool home. We had no problems with the first rental, but wanted to be closer to WDW this time. Emerald Island fit the bill. (We were in Orange Tree last time)

I agree with those that say they prefer to drive even when they do stay on-site. It's just so much faster. Staying in Emerald Island, we could easily get from our home to the parks in less than 10 minutes. That's a LOT faster than the bus system etc!

Housekeeping isn't an issue for us. It is actually more relaxing for me to be able to leave in the morning without worrying that I need to tidy up before housekeeping comes in! LOL
It doesn't bother me to have an unmade bed on vacation. In a home you can just shut the bedroom door and not have to see it! :rolleyes: (in a hotel room, it is necessary because that is your living space too) If I want it made, I can just pull the sheet up and toss the comforter over it. Not like making a bed is hard to do! ;)

LOVED LOVED LOVED being able to throw our laundry in every couple of days and also being able to take 95% of our clothes home clean! (Loved the "Mount NeverRest" on the first page) No mountain for us this year!
Tip - Don't bother making/finding travel packs of laundry detergent to take with you! A full bottle of laundry detergent is under $5! I think we paid $2.75 for a standard size bottle of detergent (no fragrance/no colors). It was so cheap we just left the unused portion for the next guests. We did take dryer sheets with us because they are so small to pack.

Loved all the obvious points - more space - more bathrooms (no foot tapping or gotta go dancing) - could make meals IF WE WANTED (we didn't want to this trip - only made eggs for breakfast twice - never made dinner) - bought bottled water at the store and had them frozen, ready to take to the parks.

A big bonus for us was that when DS was napping, we could nap if we wanted, BUT if we didn't we had an entire house PLUS pool to spend awake relaxing time in without worrying about waking a toddler (unlike a hotel room where we are all in the same room).

Rental cars do not have to be that expensive. Heck - get an economy car if it's all you can afford! As long as you all fit and your luggage fits from/to the airport, you're good to go! Many car rental places are now taking check/debit cards now. You just need to call them to ask if your card qualifies. (We got rid of all credit cards a couple of years ago. If we don't have the money, we don't need it. [whatever "it" may be])

TIP - If you have an ice maker check right away to see if it's turned on. They usually shut them off and empty the bucket between guests. Get it on so you have ice!