A Great Alternative to Staying with Relatives this Holiday Season

December 15, 2009 by Daily Venus Diva · Leave a Comment

rentalhome The holidays are just around the corner, and that means taking advantage of all of the highlights of the holiday season—delicious food, fun parties, fellowship with family and friends, and leaving the comfort of your own home to cram everyone into a couple of spare bedrooms in a relative’s house. Wait…that last one isn’t exactly filling you with holiday joy! Going over the hills and through the woods to Grandma’s house (or Aunt Jane’s, or Mom and Dad’s) may have seemed fun when you were younger, but now that you’ve got your own family in tow it’s lost much of its appeal. But since staying at a hotel doesn’t sound too festive, you’re not sure what else to do.

After you pack up all of your stuff—and there always seems to be more during the holidays—it goes downhill from there. You get to your relative’s house and instead of making a beeline for the restroom and a much-needed catnap, you must endure a protracted ‘greeting and catching up’ time. Then, you spend the next few days piled on top of everyone as you help prepare meals and try to keep the kids entertained and out of the way. Bedtime is dictated by when everyone else wants to retire, and let’s face it, you won’t get a good night’s sleep with insomniac Uncle Joe wandering through the house.

Of course, stress reduction isn’t the only reason to stay in a vacation home during the holidays. There are many, many other reasons to choose vacation rentals over shacking up with relatives. Here are just a few:

Making a holiday trip feel like a mini-vacation is easier than you think. More and more people are realizing their dream of owning a second home—and renting it out when they’re not using it. That’s good news for holiday travelers like you. In fact, there’s a vacation home within a two-hour drive of most metropolitan areas in the U.S. So no matter where Grandma lives it’s likely that you can find a vacation rental home close by her house. And by visiting respectable websites—such as HomeAway.com or its affiliates VRBO.com, CyberRentals.com, GreatRentals.com, or Holiday-Rentals.co.uk—you can find the one that’s right for you.

Rental homes have more space for you. Up until now, maybe you’ve been able to convince yourself that when you get to your relative’s house and start settling in there will be plenty of room for you, your spouse, the kids, and all of your stuff. But you know it never works out that way. Sure, it’s someone’s home, but that doesn’t mean there is going to be enough room for you and your family to spend the holiday comfortably. Consider the difference between piling your family into two extra bedrooms and having a whole house to spread out in—where the bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living and dining areas are all yours.

They feel more like home than a hotel. If you tired of staying with family members during the holidays a while ago and have been opting to stay in a hotel, you’ll feel more at home and enjoy the holidays more in a vacation rental home. Aside from the fact that you’ll have more room, you’ll have the amenities you need to make your holiday special.

It’s better for your kids. If all of that holiday stimulation exhausts an adult, just think about the toll it takes on your kids. They might be able to handle running around with cousins, greeting relatives they see a couple of times a year, and getting smothered by Grandma’s hugs and kisses for a little while, but after a day or two, they will get tired and cranky. Or they’ll get bored and start asking you every ten minutes what they can do. Neither brings any joy to the occasion—for you or for your hosts. In fact, typical kid behavior can be interpreted as “misbehavior” by relatives who’ve forgotten what children are like, leading to resentment and/or hurt feelings on both sides.

You might even be able to bring Fido or Fluffy. Finding a kennel to take your pets over the holidays can be a huge hassle. If you don’t plan to do it weeks or even months ahead, you’re usually in big trouble. Many vacation property owners will accept pets, which saves you the kennel headache and ensures that the entire family (furry members and all!) can spend the holidays together. You’ll also end up saving hundreds of dollars on boarding costs. Just make sure the person you’re renting from gives you the go-ahead.

You can create a new holiday vacation for your entire family. Tired of doing the same old thing every holiday? This year, think about breaking away from your family’s lackluster traditions and starting a new one. Have your whole family relocate for the holidays to a vacation rental and make it a real vacation for everyone. Because there will be a kitchen, Grandma can still cook up her world-famous turkey, the kids can spend their time running around on the beach or skiing the slopes (depending on where you end up!), and everyone can actually enjoy the time they are spending together without all of that holiday stress. There are so many options available—you can take a risk and rent a huge home that will fit the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and all or you can rent a couple of homes so the families can split up. Either way you’ll always remember the holiday the whole family spent a little quality vacation time together.

About Christine Karpinski:
Christine Karpinski is the author of How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner: The Complete Guide to Buy, Manage, Furnish, Rent, Maintain and Advertise Your Vacation Rental Investment and Profit from Your Vacation Home Dream: The Complete Guide to a Savvy Financial and Emotional Investment. Her books, combined with her seminars, media appearances, and Web site (HowToRentByOwner.com), have helped thousands of people purchase and manage their vacation homes.

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