If this is your first time trying the luxury of a holiday villa for your vacation the following tips and advice should make the whole process quite straightforward for you.

Once you have established how many people will be travelling with you on holiday, you then decide which size of villa will then best suit your requirements. You can choose from a 3-bedroom villa all the way up to 7 or more (for those travelling with several families). Most of the Orlando vacation villas are well within a 30-minute drive of Walt Disney World (many being even much less than that).

Confirm the dates and price…

The next step is to contact the owner directly to confirm they have your dates available and they will quote you a price for your length of stay. (Please not villa prices are always per villa per night or per week and NEVER per person.) This is the perfect opportunity to ask the owner any questions you may have about the villa, what it has to offer, its location, or anything else, which comes to mind. To proceed from this point you would pay the homeowner a deposit to secure your booking for those particular dates.

Every villa is privately owned so each one will have their very own terms and conditions. It is advisable to read these-as you would when booking any travel arrangements. Pay particular attention to their cancellation and refund policies in the event of any change in circumstances affecting any members of your party who are due to travel. Popular dates like Christmas and Easter can be booked almost year in advance, so none of us know exactly what is in store for us one year down the line. Do remember to pay any monies due (i.e. deposit/final balance) on time since failure to do so may result in losing your dates.

Time to get directions…

Closer to your departure date the balance of your payment is due. It is on receipt of this that the homeowner will issue you with travel directions to their specific rental villa and instructions on when and how to obtain keys to enter the villa. Many rental villas use a lockbox system and the owner will provide you with the access code before you go. Some owners still use a nearby management office where you can pop in to collect keys en-route to your vacation villa.

On arrival at your vacation villa, you will find plenty more information on all that Orlando has to offer you and your party during your stay, and we are SO confident you will be delighted with your Orlando vacation villa that you will wonder why you have never holidayed this way before and undoubtedly will be thinking ahead as to when you can do this again!

Having spoken to the homeowner when booking the villa and probably when balances were due, you may already have some rapport with them, so if you showed an interest in returning to their Orlando vacation rental at a future date, they may just offer you a discount on your next stay as a “thank-you" for returning to their home in the sun.