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Showing posts from March, 2018

How to Eliminate Vacation Rental Risks Before Booking

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There are many differences between staying at a hotel and staying at a vacation rental. For one, the hotel industry is heavily regulated whereas the vacation rental industry isn’t. There are some things that can happen and certain situations that one can find oneself in - problematic situations - that are unique to the world of vacation rentals. Granted, the majority of vacation rental owners out there are interested in repeat business and good reviews so the honor system is notoriously heeded in the vacation rental business. But, as in any industry, situations can arise that you would rather avoid. There is a way that you can eliminate almost any chance of booking vacation rentals in Zion or anywhere else and that is with the help of Airbnb Plus . Last month (Feb 2018) Airbnb launched a new platform, Airbnb Plus, which only includes listings that have been meticulously looked over by certified inspectors using a system they’ve put in place that involves a checklist with 100 points.

Things to Find Out Before Booking a Vacation Rental

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If you ask us, vacation rentals are nearly always the best lodging option when traveling for nearly reason. There are so many places to stay near Zion National Park, many of them vacation rentals, but none better than Watchman Villas . We stand by that statement. Watchman brings together the best things about vacation rentals and the best things about hotels creating a unique and superior lodging experience. Not every vacation rental is like Watchman Villas, mind you. Many of them are simply a home that the owner rents out rather than an establishment built specifically for tourist lodging. So, for all of you who tend to go the vacation rental route instead of the traditional hotel route when traveling, here are some questions that you should find the answers to before clicking the book button regardless of what country or city you’ll be staying in. Do I need a personal vehicle? Depending on the location of the vacation rental as well as your personal plans, you may or may not nee

Effective Ways to Find the Right Vacation Rental - Part 2

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This article is a continuation of our previous piece about booking luxury vacation rentals: Effective Ways to Find the Right Vacation Rental - Part 1 . Another great option to help you find the right vacation homes or luxury vacation rentals is Expedia.com. When you visit their homepage, locate the button that allows you to specify your search not as “hotels” but as “vacation rentals”. Also remember that Expedia owns Travelocity, Orbitz, and HomeAway. Because of this, hyperlinks from those other sites are located throughout the listings near the top of many pages on Expedia. In fact, Hotels.com is also an Expedia property, though there are no hyperlinks throughout the site as there are with the other three previously mentioned. So once you filter your search to show only vacation rentals, results will be pooled from many different Expedia-affiliated sites so that you can have the best possible chance at seeing all of the luxury vacation rentals that are available according to your

Effective Ways to Find the Right Vacation Rental - Part 1

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If you ever booked a vacation rental before, chances are you used one of the most common websites to reserve vacation homes such as BRBO, HomeAway, and Airbnb. There are a handful of other ways to go about reserving vacation homes than simply logging into the big-name sites, ways that you may not even know about or even considered. Did you that sites like Hotels.com, Expedia.com, TripAdvisor, and even Google.com can be used to book vacation rentals? Well, know you now, and we’ll tell you how to do it. With searching for hotels using Google, you can filter the search to show only results containing vacation rentals. This “vacation rental filter” was actually being tested officially last year and is now available in many major cities. Test it out yourself the next time you’re searching for vacation homes. In the search bar, type “hotels in  Springdale , UT”, as an example. Look for a drop-down menu called “Accommodation Type”, click on it, and from there choose the option called “vac

6 Best Places For Kids to Go Inside Zion NP

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There are so many great locations for children in Zion National Park. If you’ve ever heard someone say that Zion isn’t a place for kids, let that statement pass through one ear and out the other because that couldn’t be further from the truth. Families are one of the most common types of tourist that visit Zion year in and year out. Let us tell you about what we consider are the 5 best places for families with young kids to go inside Zion NP. Temple of Sinewava This is our favorite item on this when it comes to visitors with kids in Zion NP. There is absolutely no way they are not going to completely love this spot. This is essentially the bottom of the Narrows so people swim, wade, and frolic in the clear and flowing water. There are all sorts of specific river spots in this area that get deeper so if they want to legitimately swim, that option is available as well. Weeping Rock This is a favorite Zion NP trail of many families we’ve talked to. Kids always enjoy this short,