Vacation Home Rentals - Be A Good Guest

There have been several different types of vacation home rentals that we have enjoyed. Some of them we have rented in Orlando seem to be homes that have been purchased strictly for renting out to visitors to the area. As a matter of fact, there are whole neighborhoods where the houses are mainly rentals. They are filled with the bare necessities and don't feel like they are homes that are used by the owners.

Other rentals have been places where it is obvious that the owners also use the homes or condos for their own pleasure as well. Usually the key clue is that there is a locked closet with the owner's possessions in it. Or in the case of some of the Florida condos we have rented, there are actually still personal items left in some of the closets and drawers.

In either case, one of the first things I do upon arrival is to take pictures of the rental. There are several reasons for doing this. First, if you have pictures of what it looked like when you arrived, you can put things back in place that you may move during your stay. In one instance, Bob took a picture of a medicine cabinet before moving the things in it to store his own things. When we were ready to leave, he was able to put everything back in order according to the picture.

Upon leaving, I also take pictures. That way if there is any dispute over something that doesn't seem right to the owner or perhaps broken by the cleaning staff, I have a picture to show what it looked like when we left it.

Be a good guest and treat the home as good or better than your own. It's always nice to be invited back.