Vacation rentals: 1 week for price of 2 nights hotel

It seems like just a few weeks ago I was asking our other Deal Detective, Sara Benson, if she knew about any cheap week-long accommodations. She suggested keeping an eye on Craigslist for vacation rentals under $300. I’d already cast my eye there, but now I’ve found a travel resource that bridges the gap between a week in someone’s home, and a full week in a hotel, cottage or villa—for the price of a weekend in a moderately priced hotel.

Deal: Wyndham’s Endless Vacation Rentals has a Last Minute Vacations section that leaves you wondering if you’d rather holiday in Florida, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Canada or Spain. Seven days in a studio start at $249 while one-bedrooms only cost a little bit more at $279. Bring the whole family or another couple and stay in a two-bedroom for $319/week (including taxes). Note: Using the website’s key rating, five is the highest. Most of the deal hotels are in the 2- or 3-key range, but you can find some 4-key properties as well. I found a 4-key property at Snowbird Utah and another one in Isla Mujeres Mexico.

Details: Most of the rentals have a Friday, Saturday or Sunday start date (European properties are different). You don’t have to stay the full week if you don’t want to. Check out any time. Read the full details for full disclosure including cancellation policies.

Why Go: Even Arthur Frommer predicted vacation rentals to be a hot travel ticket for 2007.

Why Not: If you surf the rest of the Endless Vacation website you might get hypnotized by the decidedly more luxe properties. Of course they come at a higher price, but it just might sway you from the bargains.

Caveat: While I was searching the Last Minute Vacation deals, several of the resorts that I was interested in came up “Unavailable”. This leads me to think that these deals are getting snatched up pretty darn quick, or that the website is not refreshed when the inventory sells out. Also, the website stalled out on me every time I used it; several times I had to restart my computer to get it unstuck.

When: All of the Last Minute Vacations take place within 30 days of the date you are currently viewing the site on.

Contact: Endless Vacation Rentals, (877) 782-9387

Related Los Angeles Times links:

50 illegal Maui B&Bs & vacation rentals shut down
Budget Travel: Travel expert Arthur Frommer predicts what’s hot for 2007
My portfolio? It’s in vacation condos

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 15, 2007 at 11:20 pm by Jen Leo and is filed under East Coast, Eastern Canada, Europe, Family & Kids, Islands & Beaches, Last Minute, Mexico, Western Canada. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.