Vacation rental bookings are greatly influenced by amenities, suggests today’s study by Expedia’s TripAdvisor.
Here are the highlights of their report:
– 32% of travelers thought access to a full kitchen was the most important vacation rental amenity
– 22% prefer Wi-Fi Internet access
– 10% prioritize an outdoor deck or patio
– 41% believe that vacation rentals typically have better amenities than hotels
– 26% feel that the amenities between hotels and vacation rentals are comparable.
– 23% crave a personal chef as their dream amenity.
That brought to mind the question of exactly what I look for as I travel around the Hawaiian islands. Here’s my list of amenities.
1. Kitchenette with microwave and refrigerator. The longer my stay the more important this becomes. I love to cook and shop at local markets which reduces my restaurant charges. While a full kitchen is great, I usually don’t need an oven and full size refrigerator for most trips. If there isn’t at least a refrigerator, it is going to take a lot of other pluses to outweigh this loss.
2. Lanai/balcony. This actually goes hand in hand with view. Of high importance to me is the privacy of the lanai. There’s nothing worse than seeing/listening to your next door neighbors while trying to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the ocean.
3. View. Who doesn’t like a great ocean view on a Hawaii vacation. It’s also a matter of cost as the best view will have more drain on my wallet. The view isn’t as important to me on Oahu, maybe because I’m usually there on business. When I travel to the other neighbor islands for a short break, the view tops my list.
4. Wi-Fi. It’s not for me if it’s public. A vacation rental home is okay, but when I’m sharing Wi-Fi with strangers, well, it feels a lot like sharing my toothbrush. Have you ever heard of Firesheep? In a nutshell it is extremely easy for someone on a public Wi-Fi network to eavesdrop on your communication, including all of your passwords. I turn off Wi-Fi, and prefer to stay on 3G for data, which is far safer (it’s encrypted) when I’m not sure. Yes, you can use secure browsing at times, but that’s another story.
Your turn: what vacation rental amenities are important to you?
Join the discussion. I’m sure the purveyors want to hear your thoughts as well.
May 2012 will be the first time we’ve stayed in a rental, but so far the extras are so much better for us than staying in a hotel. First of all, it’ll be myself, my husband, our 2 small children (ages 4 and almost 2) and my parents. For us to pay for the hotel rooms for all of us would have pretty much killed the rest of the trip with the finances. So being in one place but with a 2 story home gives us all a space to be together in, but also separate spaces when we want. It also has a pool, plenty of beach toys and pool toys for the kids, large kitchen to help us save costs on meals and they include at no charge plenty of extras to help with the kids…carseats, crib, daybed, strollers plenty of things that would otherwise be very costly having to bring it with us on a plane. Plus the laundry room will be great, we won’t have to pack as much and with 2 little ones I’m sure we’ll be washing a lot of clothes. Plus all the towels, beach chairs, ice chests…even laundry soap is included. I doubt we’ll ever do hotels again after this trip.