Windsor Hill Rental - Is this normal?

[MarylandMom]

A little over a week ago, I made last minute arrangements to rent a unit in Windsor Hills (which we found via the Windsor Hills website). We are scheduled to leave in 2 weeks and the owner agreed to a discounted rate since we were booking so late. When I spoke to the owner to arrange for our rental he said to email him my name, address, number of people staying, and our phone number. A few days later I received an email confirmation from the mc.

However, when I tried to call the mc to pay for the rental, they informed me that I would need to pay the owner directly as he made this reservation "on his own". I then emailed the owner who replied that I would just need to send him a check the week of the trip and he would contact me by phone to give me the address and directions also that week.

I'm becoming very nervous about this. I have always made payment to owners long before our trips and if I made last minute arrangements I always paid in full at the time of booking. I am so nervous that we will arrive and the unit will not be available. Does this seem normal? I'm hoping that he is not holding out in hopes of receiving a better offer and planning to just cancel our reservation since no money has been exchanged.

What do you think? Am I just being paranoid? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[5mins2disney]

I'm a little surprised he wouldn't want the money sooner, usually you want to collect money from your guests asap since you want to make sure they're actually coming. The risk is that you might not pay, or with a check, what if it's no good? Getting it well in advance solves both issues, since if he takes it off the market, he won't likely find another rentor. Did he mark off your dates on his online availability calendar?

It's possible he's just "laid back" and not that well organized, for instance, did he send you an ERA or receipt, that sort of thing? Not all owners do, the first person we stayed with didn't, and it was just fine, we stayed with them a second year too and their whole booking process was basically "send us a check or call our MC and pay with a credit card"....that was it! LOL

In 2 weeks I doubt he has another rentor lined up at this late date, I wouldn't worry about it, if he did why even tell you it's all ok?

 

[MarylandMom]

Thanks for the reply. I checked the availability calendar and the owner has listed our dates as not available. I made a mistake when I said that I found the rental from the Windsor Hills site. I actually found it on the VRBO site. (I looked at so many units, I was delerious!!!) Is there any reason that an owner would choose not to be on the Windsor Hills site?

 

[5mins2disney]

Thanks for the reply. I checked the availability calendar and the owner has listed our dates as not available. I made a mistake when I said that I found the rental from the Windsor Hills site. I actually found it on the VRBO site. (I looked at so many units, I was delerious!!!) Is there any reason that an owner would choose not to be on the Windsor Hills site?

Well that's a good sign!

As far as your other question...sure...windsorhillsrent.com is a paid advertising site just like vrbo.com and many others are. Some choose not to advertise there, if you ask me, it's a very bad decision not to, but hey, to each their own! The townhome we rented for 2 years before we bought there only advertises on vrbo, I since spoke with the owner and told her she really needs to get listed on the site, but she still hasn't. Guess she doesn't want to, isn't interested, who knows? It doesn't cost that much to be on it either.

It's not for everyone, some owners actually hate it because of the whole "general inquiry" feature that just wastes a lot of our time, since you never seem to get bookings from general inquiries for doing a lot of work and answering of emails in return, it's usually just people trying to get a place at the lowest possible rate.

It's just like websites, many owners don't have one, and don't see the need for one, or feel they should even have one! (By this I mean their own personal website, not just an ad on vrbo). It all boils down to good marketing, some people are just better at it than others, and you'll find some homes are booked up a lot more than others too, no big surprise there!