How To Pick The Perfect Luxury Vacation Rental

View of Stargate, a luxury villa in St. Thomas, Caribbean

With their elegant furnishings, luxurious designs, and outstanding services, luxury vacation rentals are an increasingly popular choice for vacationers. However, deciding precisely what villa to rent is a major decision, and knowing how to choose can help you save a lot of money. There are three factors to keep in mind when choosing what sort of villa you want to visit: Style of Vacation, Number of People, and Price. Let's take a look at them.

Style of Vacation is perhaps the factor most easy to overlook. Before you even choose a location, it's important to know what you want to do on your trip. If your idea of a vacation involves a great deal of tourism and sightseeing, a small villa on a private beach far from town probably isn't going to be the best choice. In the same vein, a villa in the middle of Paris isn't a good choice for somebody who wants to mainly hit the beach and enjoy the sand. Before you choose your destination, make a rough outline of your trip and decide what the most important things you want to do are. Once you have that, then you can choose a location (such as the Caribbean) and refine your destination until you've found the island or nation that most suits your wishes.

Once you've determined the style, you'll need to keep in mind exactly how many people are going on your trip. In most cases, a luxury villa can hold two people in each bedroom, so simply divide the number of people going in half to see the minimum number of bedrooms you'll need. You should never choose a villa with too few bedrooms, and to get the most value for your money, you probably won't want to have more than one bedroom left over. Villa features and amenities vary enough that you shouldn't look for only the minimum number of bedrooms; instead, consider at least one room more to help give you a few more choices. Additionally, many Caribbean villas charge an increasing amount per-room, so you may be able to rent fewer than the maximum number of rooms in that part of the world and , in doing so, get a price more on the lower end of the price range than the higher.

Speaking of prices, be aware of how much you want to spend per night. If you're traveling with friends, you can split the cost between each individual (or family) in order to distinctly reduce the cost to each at some villas. Don't forget that the price often includes maid service, housekeeping, a chef, and various amenities; with a villa rental, you're getting much more than a bedroom, and consider what sort of price you might be paying for these features and services otherwise. If you were planning to get many of them anyway, you may find that you save quite a lot of money by getting them as part of a villa package.