I have spent the better part of the last three days looking for a place for my family to rent when we go see my son in Seattle for Christmas. It’s so confusing. You have to take account of the location and I don’t want to be more than five or ten minutes away. Then you have to take into account the number of beds and the per person charge. I’m finding that although a place says it sleeps 6, the price quoted is for only 2. Anything over 2 has to pay extra, as little as $15 per person per night and up to $50 per person per night. And children are not free. I’m having to pay for a 1 year old and a 4 year old. They don’t need any extra bed/bedding. The older one sleeps with me and the little one has his own fold up bed that they travel with. Then you have to take into consideration the cleaning fee (as little as $49 and as much as $119) and the mandatory damage insurance fee (from $69 to $99) and they do not refund at all if you cancel less than 30 days before your arrival date.
I know it’s a business for someone but the three day rental that I was looking at today is going to be over $1200 for 3 adults and 2 children. So now I’ve realized that we should stay in one of those suite hotels. Much cheaper and we can cancel up to 24 hours before scheduled arrival. And they include free breakfast and kitchen and separate bedrooms and I’m saving over $500 and we’re staying a fourth night! So I think we will be opting for the King suite with two bedrooms and a living room pull out and a full kitchen and completely refundable! It’s about a 15 minute drive from my son but that is going to have to do.
So if anyone out there has a house/apartment/room to rent, take note. You too can charge exhorbitant fees of unsuspecting tourists!
Wasted Days And Wasted Nights 
Oh, yikes. Were you looking at Air B&B?
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No. I used VRBO, flipkey, and SeattleBedAndBreakfast. I’ve used them before when they were more uniform in their property policies and procedures. Now each owner/lister can post any terms they want.
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You made a good decision, I think. The times we stayed at a residence suite it felt almost like home. Perfect solution. Have a wonderful time.
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I haven’t had much luck with residence inns in the past. I was determined not to go back to them but my daughter convinced me I should at least look so I did and found a great rate in a super area…about a five minute walk from the Space Needle, or as Anderson calls it, the Space Doodle.
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You have neatly explained why we usually end up at a suite type of hotel. Rentals are so expensive, and B&B’s are often worse yet in terms of pricing. It seems to be the opposite in other countries. We usually get our best deals renting or going with a B&B when we travel elsewhere.
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I’ve found that homes are better for large groups and have been cheaper in the past. I used one of the above service just a year ago in the same area when we went to my son’s wedding and it worked great. It was about half of what we would have paid for a hotel and we were two blocks from the wedding venue. However, now it’s all changed. Hopefully with Air B&B becoming more popular, it might provide enough competition to bring down the prices and standardize the policies.
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Ohy! Good luck. Sounds frustrating….!
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