On October 5, 2008, an article titled "Skirting the Pitfalls of Private Rentals" appeared in the Travel section of the New York Times. The article (click here to read it) focused on just one family's bad experience renting directly from the owner of a vacation home in Puerto Rico. It went on to suggest that this family's vacation nightmare might have been avoided if only they had chosen a "professionally managed rental" that offered a "certain level of quality control." The reporter added that "no such quality control exists with owner-rented properties found on sites like HomeAway.com and VRBO.com."

Vacationers who have had bad experiences renting from somewhat less than "professional" property management companies may beg to differ about this alleged "quality control." But everyone can agree that a single vacationer's bad experience renting directly from an owner should not be presented as being typical. You need only check the thousands of online reviews on vacation-rental Web sites to see that for many travelers, renting directly from the owner of a vacation property can be a true delight.  

Vacation Rentals vs. Hotels

The fact is, vacation rentals represent a travel experience that is at once among the best available and among the most economical. When you reserve a vacation rental, you're booking an entire home. Complete with kitchen (no need to eat every meal at a restaurant), washer/dryer, maybe a hot tub or pool, possibly a wide-screen TV and DVD collection, free wireless Internet, maybe a game room, and lots of other amenities. You'll often have nearly six times the square footage of the typical 330-square-foot hotel room at as little as half the price.

And if you rent from the owner, you'll have something else: a personal relationship. This can add immeasurably to the vacation experience. That's because the owner will share with you all the out-of-the-way spots that never advertise and never appear in the local guidebooks. (If you've ever seen "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" with Guy Fieri, the Food Network's guide to incredible restaurants known only to the locals, you know what we mean.)

There is also what might be called the "mi casa es su casa" (my home is your home) dynamic. You're not renting a cookie-cutter hotel room with bland art prints screwed onto the walls. You're renting someone's second home, furnished for their family's comfort and decorated with things they love—a prized collection of shells and sea glass, a trophy catch from a deep-sea fishing trip, framed finger paintings done by the family's "child artist in residence"—even if the "child" is now 35 years old.

Most vacation-rental owners are passionate about their homes. Most property managers are not. And more and more owners now accept major credit cards, which brings the booking convenience factor to parity.

The Rent By Owner Threat

No wonder many hotels, inns, and bed-and-breakfast operators are starting to feel threatened. And no wonder professional property managers, many of whom belong to the Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA), are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with the Internet-empowered do-it-yourself vacation-rental owners.

Case in point: For the past few years, one of the regular agenda items at the VRMA's annual conference is a presentation called "How to Effectively Deal with RBOs (Rent By Owners)." Here's the capsule description: "RBOs may be one of the major influences to the vacation rental industry and a barrier to professionally managed vacation rentals' ability to build business locally. RBOs are now a permanent factor that must be considered. Learn what your options are in dealing with this challenge." 

So RBOs, as the VRMA calls them, are one of the "major influences" on the vacation-rental industry. They are a "barrier" to the growth of professionally managed vacation rentals, and "a permanent factor that must be considered." Sure sounds to us as though the vast majority of private vacation-rental owners must be doing something right.

As in any industry, there are bound to be a few bad apples. But they will always be a tiny fraction of available vacation rentals. To condemn all "direct-from-owner" vacation rentals, as the Times article would appear to do (with only a single example), is extremely shortsighted and unfair.

Our Tips for Ensuring a Great Vacation Rental Experience

When you're shopping for a vacation rental, as in any transaction, "buyer beware." It's just common sense. Here's our advice for ensuring a great vacation-rental experience, most of which applies whether you choose to rent directly from the owner or from a property management company:

1. Avoid free listing sites. Stick with established vacation-rental advertising sites that charge owners and property managers a fee to post a listing. Scammers and unscrupulous property owners tend to use free sites a lot, because there's no one "minding the store" and no phone number to call to register a complaint. Sites that charge for listings are more likely to offer a customer support phone number, and the best ones will remove a listing if they get several complaints about a particular property.
2. Look for listings with detailed information and lots of photos. Whether you're searching for a modest little cabin in the woods or a luxurious multi-bedroom ski chalet, you should expect to be provided with a detailed description of the property along with high-quality, well-lit photos. The amount of care and attention that's been put into the online listing for a property is often a very good indicator of what you can expect once you get there.  
3. Read customer reviews. Unless the property is brand new and being offered as a vacation rental for the first time, you should expect to find at least a couple of reviews from past guests. Keep in mind, though, that there's really no way of knowing for sure whether those glowing comments might have been posted by the owner's mom or best friend.  
4. Ask questions. Even if everything seems pretty clear from the property description and the photos you've looked at online, call the owner (or the property manager) and ask some questions about the place. This will give you a sense of what the person is like, how responsive he or she is, and whether the two of you "click." Most vacation-rental owners we know welcome this type of call, because it gives them an opportunity to share their enthusiasm about their home and get to know their prospective renters.
5. Pay with a credit card. If an owner is set up to accept credit card payments, it's a pretty good sign that the person is reputable. And in the unlikely event that you do have a problem down the line, you'll have a better chance of getting it resolved in your favor if you've paid by credit card.
6. Get it in writing. Make sure that all the important details about your reservation—including payment due dates and cancellation/refund policies—are clearly explained and confirmed in writing.
7. Buy Trip Cancellation Insurance. Most vacation rentals, whether offered directly by the owner or through a property manager, require payment in full 30 days or more prior to your arrival. And if you have to cancel your trip at the last minute, you may lose some or all of the rental charges. To cover yourself, look into buying Trip Cancellation Insurance (TCI). It's relatively inexpensive—about $6 per $100 of coverage. You only need to buy enough to cover the nonrefundable costs. So if you're renting a place that charges $3,000 per week plus a refundable $500 damage deposit, you'd buy insurance for $3,000. For more information and instant price quotes, visit InsureMyTrip (www.insuremytrip.com).

Whatever you do, don't let one negative newspaper story scare you away from renting directly from vacation-property owners. Follow these few simple rules, and we're confident that in the years ahead, you'll have many memorable vacation-rental experiences.

About the Authors: Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner are the creators of FullyBookedRentals (www.fullybookedrentals.com), a membership Web site devoted to helping vacation-rental owners advertise, rent, and manage their properties effectively, professionally, and profitably.

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