This morning I was perusing the morning news while having coffee and came across an article about vacation rentals – you know the ones…those popular websites that are an alternative to hotels.

This article really shows you the lost time, problems you can get into, the extra costs you can incur and large sums of money you can lose while staying in these places. These were some pretty extreme examples of problems, and how these paying customers were treated is inexcusable.

Plus, there is also the issue of places like Barcelona where the locals are protesting about housing for them being converted into vacation rentals, taking housing off the market. They are taking their anger out on tourists. The government even went so far as to cancel 60,000 bookings for vacation rentals. I wonder how many of those customers got a refund.

As the article points out, you are really at the mercy of the property owners and not the websites you book through. It should be illegal.

This is also true for websites for booking “cheap” 3rd party airline tickets. I used one of those websites once for airline tickets and never will I do it again – it is not worth the price of the hassles if there is a problem, and I had a delayed flight and a cancellation on the same trip. I also had the same thing happen with a hotel booking on Expedia, and it was the last time I booked a hotel through a 3rd party site.

In both of these situations I had no recourse or help from the 3rd party booking companies and no help from the airline or hotel; since I booked through someone else they are the ones who had to fix it, and in the case of the airline tickets I bought I had to fight hard for weeks to get a refund. With the hotel there was a very minimal refund on my next stay.

I have talked about vacation rentals before – I have stayed in them in Europe when they were booked by others and we had no issues. After the pandemic (and the greed of the owners kicked in) I stayed in one I rented and it was not a good experience at all. I deleted the app and decided to never book another one.

I do not need to be a maid in a hotel room and pay more money for the privilege to do so like what has happened in vacation rentals. I also don’t want to rely on a 3rd party to fix the issues that can arise. Sure, I do like unique places to stay, but at what cost?

To avoid these types of problems, I always book directly with a small local hotel to help support local businesses and keep from supporting housing shortages in cities I visit. I have always found really nice hotels in interesting areas, and by booking directly with them you can get some decent discounts.

I also book my airline tickets directly through the airlines so I have someone with the airline I am flying to help rebook if there is an issue (which happened when our flights were canceled flying out of JFK to DUB in 2020).

I have a couple of travel credit cards with a lot of miles/points available on each, and with their travel portals I can book flights, hotels and rental cars. However, when I am ready to go someplace I will transfer those points/miles to a couple of airlines to use for tickets since there is better value doing that. Plus, if there are issues, I have help directly from an airline to solve the problem immediately. I can use those same cards to pay for hotels and earn more points, or use my cash back card and get cash rewards.

And, when using cards, there is usually some form of travel insurance coverage with some cards (check your cards to see which is best) for additional peace of mind.

I mentioned these things as someone who books my own trips. I always have done this as I never wanted to pay a travel agent fee for something I can do myself, plus I want to spend that money doing things on my trip. I also don’t usually plan an entire itinerary (but the Europe trip earlier this year was a rare exception and I would not do it again). I get flights, book the first few days’ accommodations and maybe the last night but everything else is usually – but not always – on the fly. The exception is a busy area at a busy time, and then I will certainly consider making a reservation.

It is SO easy to avoid problems before they even start by making smart decisions. You don’t want to spend valuable vacation time, your trip and hard-earned money solving things that could have been avoided.

Another article is now saying that the EU is going to get involved with the far-reaching crisis caused by those short-term rentals for vacations. This is another good reason to start finding your accommodations in hostels, traditional hotels or bed and breakfasts. I think that things are going to change drastically for people thinking they can convert properties to short-term rentals and if you plan to travel I would think twice about booking these places in Europe.

You just might end up getting screwed like the people in the first article.

💳

Delta just revived a program that you need to be aware of no matter if you are traveling domestic or international. You now must have the credit card you purchased your ticket with available or you may not get on your flight. My guess is that more and more businesses we encounter for travel will be doing this as well. You need to be aware of these types of changes so you don’t miss out on your travels. It is why I always am looking at travel articles.

I make sure to take the same card I used online because I have been asked for the same card used to purchase airline tickets, hotels and rental cars online. I read where they are doing this to cut down on fraud with unauthorized passengers using bogus boarding passes.

It does makes me wonder, and I am also also a bit concerned, about providing proof of purchase when using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, etc. You do have proof on your devices, but there is no matching card number per se. That is why I use Apple Pay – no actual card number is used and that is what makes it so secure.

So a few things to consider to help make sure your trip goes as smooth as possible. Until next time…

Shawn