I’m planning a summer family vacation to Florida (from the UK) and we’re thinking of spending some time in the Tampa area.

There are literally thousands of vacation rentals in the region - ranging from condos in gated developments to large villas - and I haven’t the first clue as to what area(s) are going to be best for us.

We have a young family (kids of seven and ten) so the beaches around Clearwater are tempting - but is that the best area in which to stay? We’ll have a car so it’s not going to be particularly important for the big attractions to be right on the doorstep - but we would probably want to have basic amenities (shops, restaurants etc) nearby, so we’re not looking for somewhere that’s tucked away in a backwater.

Any ideas as to some reasonably high-quality neighborhoods that we should be focusing our research on? I’ve heard of places like Indian Shores, Indian Rocks, St Petersburg, Madeira Beach - but I have no idea which ones are nice and which are not so good!

Thanks!

Tim

PS - next I will be asking about Orlando area, as we will be wanting to spend some time there, too!
By the way, we’ll be staying in some sort of self-catering unit - a house, apartment or condo. Oh, and some of the places we’ve looked at so far are Palm Harbor (on the lakeshore) and Oldsmar. Thanks for the tips so far!

There are a lot of privately owned motels on and near the beach along the Clearwater Beach/ St. Petersburg area. Many of them are owned by folks from the UK. Sites like Travelocity and Expedia don’t list them. But, this site does.
http://www.visitstpeteclearwater.com/

Clearwater Beach doesn’t have anything inexpensive on the beach. But, there are some motels near the bay site of Clearwater Beach. Many of them have kitchens…
I’ve stayed at the Gulf Towers in Indian Rocks Beach. They had kitchens, although they only had one washer and one dryer for the whole building. A lot of the motels are like that.
The rooms were clean, but the hallways looked like they needed some help! It’s located on the Beach. I stayed in a room with a balcony facing the ocean for $600 for 7 days. That was a few years ago, but I think the prices are still good.
I’ve also stayed at the Alden on St. Pete (beach). It’s not privately owned and it’s a little more expensive.
But, a lot of those privately owned motels charge $10 a night for an extra person. The prices are for 2 people. So, dependingg on how many kids you have, it would be cheaper to stay at the Alden.
Their rooms have kitchens and they are on the beach. There’s more to do at St. Pete than at Indian Rocks Beach.
The Alden is a very family friendly resort. They have 2 pools, BBQs, laundry room with a handful of washers and dryers. Volleyball court and beach bar. They also have a hot tub and a play ground.
They don’t have a restaurant, but there are several restaurants near there. Plus there’s a grocery store a little South of the resort called, "Publix."

Visit http://www.reservekosher.com/ kosher vacation rentals around the world and many kosher vacation ideas

My girlfriend tends to make everything difficult, even things that are simple in nature. For instance this past summer, I booked a cruise for three days, paid for everything. The day before we leave, she starts acting up worrying about the dumbest things. She end up not going, for what ever reason. I went anyways, since I was not about to trow away my money. Now my friend, his gf and I are booking a nice luxury 2 bdr condo for the winter at mammoth lakes village right at the slopes, to suit 4 guests. Its an expensive vacation, at first my gf sounded all exited today I talked to her, she does not want to go anymore. She says she knows her parents have a problem with it and that she will not have fun, and we will end up arguing. It sucks, I am the kind of person that plans everything ahead, I quit jobs in the past because they made changes to my schedule on a short notice. My gf has a problem with making plans, she makes them a day before or at the last minute. Why the heck does she do that, why do such simple things become difficult. We got everything covered, rental car, food, place to stay. Why the F$^% is it so difficult?
ohh not to mention she gets pissed when I go somewhere without her.

she might be thinking about it too much and then deciding not to go. try not planning anything for a while and see what she says.

I want to start a vacation rental website and I need some software. I want something with a map of the world and people click on an area and it shows how many vacation listings are in that area. Anyone know where I can find the software?

Vaaco is a vacation rental script. It’s customizable and it has the features you’re looking for except the Google Map. There are other solutions out there but all are full installs for Windows and not a script.

Escapia is a full-priced solution and is around $15000. It is not customizable.

Hi, i’m flying to new york with my bf soon and we can’t afford $300 per night in a hotel, so we are looking at apartment rentals on craigslist. But i’m scared to get scammed. how much can you rely on that?
Have you ever stayed in one? can you recommend something?

Instead of doing that, why not try looking at hotels in other boroughs or even NJ? They’ll be less expensive than a hotel in Manhattan and they’ll be more reliable than booking something through Craigslist. You don’t want to get to NY and find that the apartment you’ve rented doesn’t exist.

I’ve already tried VRBO.com, homeaway.com, and cyberrentals.com.

Floridavacations.com:
Florida Vacations is vacation rentals. We have the largest selection of Florida homes for rent on the planet, all directly from property owners. No discount packages can beat the price or comfort of our vacation rentals in Florida. These Florida vacation rentals are perfect for the Florida Keys, golf vacations and Orlando Florida. Whether you are looking for a hot Florida vacation or one of the many relaxed Florida vacation spots, our villas and condos all along the 787 miles of Florida beaches stretch from Destin Florida all the way down to the Florida Keys. No other site can provide you with better discount Florida vacations. Register your trip to enjoy the protection of our Rent with Confidence guarantee.

For the Gulf Coast: http://gulfcoastrentals.com/
Owners of vacation rental property use this web site to advertise their beach homes, condos, villas, duplexes, tri-plexes, town homes and beachfront homes with apartments. All of these properties are on or somewhere near America’s Gulf Coast…from Texas to the Florida Keys and Florida’s East Coast as well as the Caribbean. Follow the underlined links through our directories and click on the name of the FL property that interests you. That’s how to access the pictures, rates and contact information for that owners property.

For Northwest Florida:
http://www.resortquestnwfl.com/
Northwest Florida is famous for its soft beaches along miles of gulf-coast. From shelling, to kayaking, to extreme watersports & sport fishing, visitors find an abundance of activities and fun. Golfing on Northwest Florida’s links can take you through woodlands, wetlands and all along the shore. Impeccably manicured greens and member-for-a-day services — combined with top course architects and a number of renowned golf academies — have earned this area high honors from golf-industry publications. In addition, ResortQuest Northwest Florida offers premier accommodations in the most well-known tennis destinations in the U.S.

For Southwest Florida:
http://www.swflvacationrentals.com/
You don’t have to search any further - you will find it here. This page offers you a wide variety of Accommodations, Homes and Rentals in the following cities alternative islands in Southwest Florida:

Bradenton
Naples
Bonita Springs
Ft. Myers
Cape Coral
Ft. Myers Beach

I hope this helps!

me and my friends are lookin for a cheap but nice place to stay… Thank you

try vacationrentals.com or vrbo.com

I am not getting the response for craigslist.org or rentmarketer.com. Where the best place to advertise rentals online.

This is not a vacation rental.

www.ajc.com

We do not live near the rental house. A typical rental period would be a weekend, or a week long rental. Apparantly the last two weekends there have been extremely loud bachelor parties - and our neighbors are furious (I can’t blame them!) We have encouraged our neighbors to call the police, and have witheld security deposits, but need to figure out a way to better screen the potential renters, and a better way to deal with them if they get out of hand. Thank you for any advice you can provide!!
I own a vacation rental company. We manage about 40 short term rentals so I CERTAINLY know what you’re talking about.

There’s nothing you can do about prescreening them. And you can keep their security deposits all you want (as long as they sign something saying they are aware of that possibility). However, this will not get them to shut up.

After much thought, I wrote in our rental policy that they will be immediatly evicted if neighbors complain.

I gave all the neighbors my phone number. When one of them calls me saying there is excessive noise, I call the police and have them evicted ON THE SPOT! I don’t even have to get out of bed! (the local police have gotten to know my voice by now.)

I know this sounds harsh, but it’s the only thing I could do to keep the peace. They were notified of the rules when they checked in. They choose to break those rules and thus, pay the price.

Preferably not at a resort; I want more of a "cottage away from it all" kind of idea. I am most interested in Slocan Lake, although anywhere in the Koots would be fine. I have never looked into something like this before, so if you have ever taken part in a timeshare at all, I’d love to hear your advice. Thank you for your time!

Hi there,
I don’t know if this is exactly what you are looking for but you may want to check these results I got from www.vrbo.com:

http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/canada/british-columbia/british-columbia-rockies#a13141

Your question is a double edged sword as most of the "Timeshare vacation rentals" I know of are in resorts. If you are really looking for a "vacation rental" which may or may not be in a resort just do a Yahoo search for "Kootenay Vacation Rental" and see what you get. I apologize if you’ve already done this and that’s why you posted here though.

There’s a site that specializes in "Timeshare Vacation Rentals" its Redweek.com.

You question, furthermore, lends itself to helping you communicate with the owner/agent of the VR and not some scammer.

My wife and I have been renting VRs for the better part of a decade to travel with our kids. Those experiences came in handy when I wrote: The Vacationers Guide to Vacation Rentals; What to do Before, During and After Your Vacation.

You can get a complimentary copy of chapter 4 of the guide here:
http://www.vacation-rental-info.com/vrib

Chapter 4 has a hidden discount code in it that provides you with a "sales price" on the guide. And the guide is 100% guaranteed to beat your expectations or it’s free.

You can contact me at my site.

Good luck and Make Some Trails.
Terry