Vacation Rentals: Ideal Option For BudgetTravel (NAPSA)—Planning your next vacation but not sure where to stay? One appealing alternative to a hotel stay is renting a vacation home; over 21 million Americans over the past two years have discovered that vacation rentals combine popular destinations with serious savings on lodging and dining. Ditch The High-Priced Hotel, Keep Valued Amenities Vacation rentals are properties offered by individual homeowners or property managers that offer the privacy and amenities of home, often with up to 40 percent savings compared to staying in a hotel. Vacation rentals give travelers the ability to cook meals, much as they would at home, eliminating large restaurantbills. Additionally, vacation homesoften offer other valued amenities, such as living rooms, pools and hot tubs, multiple bedrooms (without connecting doors, for large groups or families with children), back- yards and other individually unique property attributes. Some properties even allow you to bring the family pet. Finding Your Dream Destination So how do you find the vacation home that fits your needs? There are a handful of Web sites that offer travelers listings of vacation rentals with photos and detailed information on amenities, allowing you to search and sort listings according to your uniquespecifications. FlipKey (www.flipkey.com), a leading vacation rental Website, offers more than 100,000 proper- Vacation homesoffer many extra amenities and can help you make the mostof travel dollars. ties to choose from. Properties on the site are reviewed by past guests to help you find the ideal vacation home. And with properties around the world—from ski chalets to beach bungalows—travelers can find vacation homes in their favorite destination. OwnA Second Home? You Could Be Earning $27,000 Annually While many second homessit empty for the bulk of the year, more and more owners are opting to turn that vacant home into serious money. FlipKey found that the average homeownerwill make $27,000 a year in additional income by renting out his or her second home. With the Internet being the first place travelers turn to to start planning their travels, it makes perfect sense to advertise your homeonline. It’s also much easier and more cost effective to manage thana print ad. Whether yow’re looking to plan a vacation or put your second home to work, check out the online world of vacation rentals and see whatthe buzzis all about.
