Learning about renting out our furnished San Francisco rental home has opened our eyes to a whole new world of travel options. I don’t think we’ll ever stay in a hotel again, seriously. There is an abundance of vacation homes everywhere you look and it seems possible to find something that fits most anyone’s needs.
It's become possible to find great resources to rent couch or room from a local, to renting an entire house and having that to yourself. The combination of high hotel costs and poor service can really sour a vacation fast. We’ve all had our experiences checking into hotel to find a dingy room, loud street noise, no sign of the promised mini fridge and hidden charges to use anything. It can take a lot of energy to demand good service these days. Here in San Francisco, hotel costs can quickly add up – especially for the popular hotels and B-n-B’s with top amenities. If your stay includes more than 2-3 nights you may want to consider the option of renting a vacation home. Not only do you get more for your money but you also reap a considerable savings. Plus, you get the opportunity to live like a local and see San Francisco from a whole new perspective.
We've gathered 6 reasons why you're better off renting a vacation rental vs. a hotel:
1) Cost Savings
Trip Advisor has a calculator that shows your estimated cost to rent a hotel vs. a vacation home. We ran simple numbers for 2 guests who would eat some meals out and and cook some meals in. Their calculator shows an estimated savings of $410, but for our rental savings would actually be $660. That savings skyrockets when you have 4 people at our standard $200/night rate. Try it out yourself.
2) Fully Equipped Kitchen
Cook if you want to, keep snacks and take home your restaurant leftovers, go at your own pace. Shop at our local Farmers Market. Not only is our kitchen fully equipped, it’s has beautiful granite counters, stainless appliances, recessed lighting, and a garden view. We also provide welcome treats like coffee/cream, muffins and snacks to get you started (before you’ve had the chance to stop by the market). No minibar charges here!
3) Laundry Room
Do your laundry and ironing for free, whenever you want to. It’s out of your way in a separate laundry room. You can close the door. You don’t have to dance around the ironing board.
4) More space AND more privacy
Have the benefit of sharing social spaces like kitchen, living room, dining and deck with space to relax with your travel companions, but have your own private bedroom. Both of our rooms include queen beds and bedside tables with reading lamps.
5) Concierge
While we don’t have an on-site concierge service to book reservations or tours, we can still give you guidance and steer you in the right direction. We lived in SF for 15 years and one of us was born and raised in the Bay Area so if there is something you want to know… we can tell you. You already know about Alcatraz and The Warf, try veering off the beaten path! Plus, as an added (free) resource for your stay we are constantly updating this blog and twitter (@blizzzz) with SF travel tips with everything from restaurants, sight seeing and entertainment. If there is something you want to know, just ask! In regards to check-in, we have a site-manager to greet you and answer any questions about the house. She’s available during your stay for any type of house issues or questions, if something were to come up. We also took the time to prepare a household guide book covering all the details on how the house works (like heat, surround sound, xbox, etc).
6) Rental Resources
By doing all this research for our business we’ve come to realize that finding a vacation home online has never been easier, and we can share what we know to point you in a couple directions. We’ve looked around and found these sites the best resources to post our rental – which means we feel they cater the best to our audience, you, the renter. They either are the most well known and therefore have the most traffic and most inventory, or are up and coming new services that seem to really “get” the best way to present services to renters and home owners alike.
1) For an affordable “couch”, “room” or “entire house”: Airbnb.com
2) For vacation home listings: istopover.com and vrbo.com
3) Not our favorite for consistent rental comparisons and can be hit/miss, but worth taking a look in any region/city: sfbay.craigslist.org/vac/
4) For tips on traveling like a local: spottedbylocals.com (Europe only) and facingthestreet.blogspot.com
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