Thursday, January 29, 2015

Alternative vacation lodging arrangements

Are you tired of staying at hotels when you visit Branson?  Are bed and breakfast rooms too cramped?  Are lakeshore resorts too dated for your tastes?  Do you have a big family or are you vacationing with a big group of people?  I have a suggestion for you – vacation home rentals.

Vacation home rentals are different than timeshare vacations.  Vacation homes are actual homes or condos that are rented out to travelers.  Vacation homes come in a variety of sizes, from one bedroom to several bedrooms.  These vacation homes have all the comforts of home.  All you have to do is bring yourself and your gear, and then go shop for food, unless you’re planning on eating in restaurants the entire trip. 

A vacation home rental is perfect if you or a loved one has a special diet that you can’t find at a Branson restaurant. Or perhaps it would help you stay on your diet - Branson is not known for healthy food, especially with all the buffets.  If you are vacationing with a large group, such as a family reunion, it would be more efficient for everyone to stay in one location.  You can also split the cost of lodging with everyone, which could be cheaper in the long run.  Most vacation homes also have washers and dryers, which would cut back on laundry duties when you get back home from vacation. 

The best place to look for vacation home rentals is online.  I did a Google search for “Branson vacation home rentals” and came up with several pages of websites.  The most well-known website for searching for vacation rentals is vrbo.com. TripAdvisor.com has partnered with HomeAway.com for vacation rental listings. I also enjoyed looking at the homes at flipkey.com.  There are also owners renting vacation homes on Craigslist, but I’m a little leery about using Craigslist for anything after what happened to the couple in Georgia who were killed after meeting with someone who had a car for sale. 

Rental costs for vacation homes vary according to the number of bedrooms, the location, and the time of the year.  Like hotel rooms and resorts, rental costs are more expensive during the busy season, which starts Memorial Day weekend and runs through Labor Day weekend.  Rentals are more expensive if they are located on Indian Point or near Table Rock Lake.  I did find a 2 BD home on Flipkey for $70.00/night for our selected dates. Maybe I can talk my hubby into it. Wish me luck!   

On a personal note, I have started my yearly Branson vacation planning.  I’ve been comparing prices for hotels on various travel websites.  I’m hoping that we can stay at a resort on Indian Point this year.  It’s been 5 years since we have stayed on Indian Point, and I really miss it.  I love being able to look out the window and being able to see Table Rock Lake. I like vacationing close to the great outdoors, which is more peaceful than being in the hustle and bustle of the city. Being able to look out on the water soothes my soul. I found a couple of resorts on Indian Point that don’t go to summer rates until the middle of June, which is amazing. As mentioned above, summer rates usually begin Memorial Day weekend. 


Don’t forget - if you’re on Facebook, stop by and click the like button on the Branson on Your Budget page!  I update that page with special deals and other tidbits of information that are too short for a blog post. 

That's all for now! Thanks for reading!  See you again soon!

Diane