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| Midcoast Maine Camp |
It never ceases to amaze me how few people consider a vacation rental when planning trips. I think they are just uncomfortable with the whole "vacation rental" term. Time to get back to our roots?
You see I grew up in an area with a cottage or camp culture: New England. Although my family never stayed or went anywhere but my grandmother's in Ohio, I was fortunate enough to be the guest of friends' families at Martha's Vineyard, Salisbury Beach, a Maine lake, a ski house in North Conway, and to be friends with the "summer people" from Revere MA who inhabited our own Millville Lake in NH. These weren't the summer places of wealthy people like the Bush's of Kennebunkport nor the glitzy places in todays' ads with granite counters. They were the type of vacation rentals where you didn't flush and shower at the same time. There were three things these camps and cottages had in common with each other and with modern vacation rentals: location, location, location.
You see I grew up in an area with a cottage or camp culture: New England. Although my family never stayed or went anywhere but my grandmother's in Ohio, I was fortunate enough to be the guest of friends' families at Martha's Vineyard, Salisbury Beach, a Maine lake, a ski house in North Conway, and to be friends with the "summer people" from Revere MA who inhabited our own Millville Lake in NH. These weren't the summer places of wealthy people like the Bush's of Kennebunkport nor the glitzy places in todays' ads with granite counters. They were the type of vacation rentals where you didn't flush and shower at the same time. There were three things these camps and cottages had in common with each other and with modern vacation rentals: location, location, location.
Camps and cottages were by nature places to get away from everyday life in cities so they were located on lakes, beaches, and mountains. Whereas historic hotels like the Stanley, Hotel Del, and Wentworth by the Sea are becoming rarer and rarer; waterfront, slope-side, and lake front homes are becoming more available as people with second homes turn to renting out their places.
When I first had a family I had no idea how to find a vacation rental. I knew about Bed & Breakfast's, but with 2 little kids, we weren't very welcome. We couldn't afford waterfront hotels for four and we got tired of trying to lie still in a hotel room while the kids fell asleep (my husband always fell asleep first and bedtime was 7:30). Glossy specialty magazines like Down East and on location real estate offices were the primary sources for securing rentals. Some rental weeks were "passed down" generation to generation.
What's really changed is the ability to find these jewels via the internet and middle class affluence. When my family and I bought a "camp" on the midcoast of Maine in 1999 we put an ad in DownEast magazine and the WantAdvertiser and were full all summer and fall. Within just a few years I was building my own website and advertising on A-1 Vacations and Cyberrentals (predecessors to HomeAway). Now they're celebrating their second SuperBowl ad. No longer do families have to rely on knowing someone in a vacation area to beg a borrowed cottage; they can search online and get TripAdvisor reviews from the comfort of a mobile phone.
Why share this? Because I think it's time folks start thinking about todays' vacation rentals as camps and cottages again. We don't need to be compared to hotels because the cottage (condo, camp, villa, vacation rental) experience is unique. Find a location that can't be beat, hop on your favorite vacation rental site or do a search for " vacation rental," pack up the car and be on your way.
Here are my family's cottage rentals from our holiday stay in HI: Big Island Champagne Pond Cottage and eclectic Oahu Spare Room with Tropical Outdoor Shower. Were they perfect? Yes and No, but we sure had fun.
When I first had a family I had no idea how to find a vacation rental. I knew about Bed & Breakfast's, but with 2 little kids, we weren't very welcome. We couldn't afford waterfront hotels for four and we got tired of trying to lie still in a hotel room while the kids fell asleep (my husband always fell asleep first and bedtime was 7:30). Glossy specialty magazines like Down East and on location real estate offices were the primary sources for securing rentals. Some rental weeks were "passed down" generation to generation.
What's really changed is the ability to find these jewels via the internet and middle class affluence. When my family and I bought a "camp" on the midcoast of Maine in 1999 we put an ad in DownEast magazine and the WantAdvertiser and were full all summer and fall. Within just a few years I was building my own website and advertising on A-1 Vacations and Cyberrentals (predecessors to HomeAway). Now they're celebrating their second SuperBowl ad. No longer do families have to rely on knowing someone in a vacation area to beg a borrowed cottage; they can search online and get TripAdvisor reviews from the comfort of a mobile phone.
Why share this? Because I think it's time folks start thinking about todays' vacation rentals as camps and cottages again. We don't need to be compared to hotels because the cottage (condo, camp, villa, vacation rental) experience is unique. Find a location that can't be beat, hop on your favorite vacation rental site or do a search for "
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| Cottage ON Champagne Pond HI |
Thank you so much.Keep up the good works.
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love the detail shots!
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I own a Orlando Vacation Rental and am eager to develop a survey that allows the guest to provide valuable feedback that I can't get in a review. I'm sure there is a science to what questions to ask and how to ask them. I'd love to see a great example of a vacation rental survey. Anyone have one they'd be willing to share? thanks!
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