posted by orlandovacationhome on Jun 21

We have received several reader questions lately regarding a detailed explanation of the “community reviews” area of our website. Although we consider the exact ratings formula award weightings to be proprietary, our community quality awards are based on the following:

• The quality of common area amenities (playground, pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, etc…) as defined by the cleanliness and maintenance of those amenities at the time of the on-site evaluation.
• The cleanliness and general maintenance of other common area grounds including buildings, landscaping, etc… at  the time of on-site evaluation.
• The cleanliness and maintenance of homes in the resort subdivision.
• Location to major parks and restaurants with an emphasis on proximity to the Disney parks.
• Other factors are also considered including whether the resort community is gated and/or guarded. The ratings system is dynamic in the sense that we will re-review each of the communities every six months in case of major community refurbishment which happens from time-to-time.
• The “overall” rating for a resort community is derived from all of the factors above.

Vacation Home Rentals

Our system is similar to the Mobil 5-Star Awards and AAA Diamond Awards for restaurants, spas and hotels albeit an adapted format for vacation homes. The critical component is that these awards should be based on objectivity as much as possible to the benefit of the individual travel consumer. The award system is also formulated to reward resorts for maintaining quality amenities also to the benefit of Orlando vacation rental guests. 

Vacation Home Ratings

Since word-of-mouth and referrals are key to building the repuatation of the industry, our 80+ independent community reviews and profiles are compiled to achieve this goal. The quality of the actual vacation experience with this product will ultimately be the reason whether vacation home rentals continue to emerge in the mainstream of travel and tourism accommodations.

Orlando Vacation Rentals - Do Your Research

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Jan 19

When evaluating options for your Orlando vacation, don’t forget to look into an Orlando vacation rental. Orlando vacation rentals offer affordable amenities. Affordable vacation home luxuries such as pools, multiple televisions, kitchens and washing machines are all amenities that can be selected at a reasonable rate, especially if you compare a vacation home with multiple bedrooms against one or more hotel rooms for a larger family.

Although hotels have common area laundry areas, schlepping clothes to and from the hotel room is no fun. Vacation homes are normally equipped with appliances that make clean-up after a long vacation so convenient. Many vacation homes also have multiple televisions that make relaxation much easier after a long day at the parks, and no hassles about what to watch with a normal hotel stay.

Other affordable amenities include kitchens that help defray food costs for serving the whole family. Self-catering meals cannot be overlooked in terms of saving money on a tight travel budget. Another convenient item is your own pool which most vacation homes have at your leisure. Once the hot weather returns to the area, a cool pool in your very own residence makes your vacation that more enjoying.

Please consult the exclusive “vacation community review” and opinion section of our website. These reviews are independent and impartial, and can take much of the risk out of selecting your Orlando vacation rental by rating the individual communities and subdivisions.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Jan 2

When evaluating your choices for Orlando vacation home rates, options and accommmodations, keep in mind that size does matter. Let’s look at some Orlando vacation rental options when compared to a hotel room.

A typical hotel hotel room runs approximately 325 square feet in size. The average nightly rate in Orlando for that hotel room runs around $80 per night depending on the time of year or .25 cents per square foot if you are evaluating a cost average based on size. Two hotel rooms could tightly accomodate eight people for a total of $160 per night.

For a three bedroom vacation villa/home that will sleep eight to ten persons, it will run around the same amount ($160/night) depending on time of year, amenities and subdivision. Such a vacation home/villa will be roughly 1,800 square foot on average. Therefore, for a much larger home, your per square foot cost is .09 cents per square foot, plus you get the use many amenities that typical Orlando hotels do not have such as a fully equipped kitchen, private garage and private pool.

In summary, Orlando vacation homes/villas represent significantly better value than hotels if you are traveling with 4 or more persons. Based on our caluclations, hotel rental rates run around .25 cents per square foot while vacation homes are in the .09 cents per square foot range on average.

Why would you book a hotel in Orlando? Please consult our blog postings for helpful tips, consumer information and community reviews.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Nov 1

We started this blog with this tagline promise “… the inside scoop”. We never thought good news would be this hard to find much less discussed publicly.

Although it’s no large consolation for Orlando villa homeowners who are losing their homes to foreclosure, the recent 50%+ slide in petroleum prices

Gas / Petrol Prices Down

should be a big boon for the Orlando vacation home industry/market. This would include both the domestic and international travel market that is desperate for some good news. This drop in fuel should help bring about firmer occupancy demand for the Orlando vacation home market. We have established in another blog that vacation villas in Orlando can present a great value to consumers in general when purchased at a distressed level from a bank. Those on the ground in Orlando estimate that transient occupancy demand is now off by as much as 15% year over year due to the recession. Disney attendance by all accounts is off as well.

As stated in another area of the blog, one cannot be sure where the bottom is for actual vacation home pricing. There are many factors that come into play in evaluating this. However, one can be sure that lower costs for petro should eventually help turn the travel market in the right direction to the benefit of vacation home owners and consumers. Demand in the vacation home rental consumer market does play a role in the valuation equilibrium which is played out in the form of net rental revenues to the home owner. Let’s hope that will be the case moving into 2009.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 2

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