Vacation Rental Properties And Extended Stays

One of our first post-retirement travel adventures was a one-month stay in Menton France. We lived in an extended-stay apartment built and operated for tourists by Pierre & Vacances. Judging it on the five-star hotel scale, it was probably about 2 1/2 stars and perfectly adequate for our needs.

The kitchen was quite practical, the apartment was roomy, the employees were friendly, and the property itself was near the center of the city and within walking distance of everywhere we wanted to go.

In Vienna on three separate occasions we spent 10-14 days in little apartments owned and advertised independently by a medical doctor. A key phrase to enter when searching is extended stay.

Our most recent four-night stay in New Orleans with Kathy's brothers and spouses was in a privately owned property that was quite a bit more luxurious. With three couples sharing the costs, our wonderful accommodations at the edge of the French Quarter were a relative bargain.

Some people apparently seek out such properties even for a single night, but we've never tried that, preferring to amass hotel points.

We reminisce because we just ran across an article in Smarter Travel that touts the benefits of this type of accommodation. It also highlights three of the larger vacation-rental websites. Remember, though, that you can run your own search via the Internet and you may find an excellent independently-owned apartment, as we did in Vienna - timeshares properties are sometimes a great bargain as well - thanks Dave!

You can find the article here.