Avoiding The Dirty Dawg Vacation Rental March 20, 2009
Posted by Herb in : 1 , trackbackCan you tell, by simply looking at a photo in a vacation rental listing, what the property is really like? And how about the surrounding neighborhood? Is this property an oasis in an otherwise barren area where you wouldn’t stay on a bet, let alone for a week on your honeymoon or family reunion? Well relax, help is on the way from Kauai Herb!
Although you can obtain the property address and check Google maps, I don’t know about you, but sometimes those maps don’t tell me a whole lot. Yes, you can see how far from the ocean you would be, if that is what you want to know, but don’t expect to see how fresh the paint is on surrounding buildings. Google Maps is good, but they’re not THAT good (yet). BTW have you heard that Google is actually driving around neighborhoods with specially outfitted vans with six or eight cameras mounted on them? They’re coming to your neighborhood soon and when they finish the entire country, you WILL be able to see what the paint looks like. Or at least what it looked like when Google last drove by.
Until then, I suggest relying on the comments of past guests of whatever vacation rental you are considering. Begin with www.tripadvisor.com. Past guests go to their site and post reviews. And owners, if they disagree with the review, can post their own rejoinder.
Provided there are enough comments, say 30 or 40, you can generally get a very good idea about what a stay would be like at this particular vacation rental. It’s pretty easy to sort out the malcontents, who wouldn’t be happy with an oceanfront room at the Four Seasons, from the rest of us travelers looking for quality accommodations at good value. Having a staff that is warm and friendly and responsive to your needs, is not a bad thing either. It’s all there at www.tripadvisor.com.
Tripadvisor has also partnered on a new venture called FlipKey.com, which is a vacation rental site that ranks properties partially by the quality of the guest comments. The site currently has only properties that are under professional management, but intends to add owner properties in the not too distant future. I’ll comment more on the site as it becomes more fully developed.
You can also check for reviews of Poipu vacation rentals at www.fodors.com. The site also includes lots of hotel reviews, however in my experience those that are looking for vacation rental accommodations tend not to be interested in hotel stays.
Aloha,
KauaiHerb
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