How To: Vacation home rentals in Florida

Last updated on August 10th, 2026 at 04:52 pm

Vacation home rentals are popular with families and friend groups seeking to lower costs.

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Vacation home rentals: Pros and Cons

Pros

• Rates can be substantially less per person with multi-day and weekly rates.
• Multiple bedrooms allow family members to have their own space
• Home, condo and cabin rentals usually feature kitchens, so you save money eating out.
• Both owners and guests are screened and evaluated, and the relationship is more personal.
• Hosts often provide local information on favorite beaches and things to do, saving you time.

Cons

• Unexpected fees. Always expect a cleaning fee, but other fees may pile on.  “Property management” fees are common, as are “listing fees” or advertising fees.
• Unexpected taxes. Many Florida destinations have a sales tax and local “tourism” taxes (bed tax), which could add up to 20% to your base rate!

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Read the small print! A two-bedroom house I found in Marathon listed for $93 a night, or $652 for a week. Good deal, I thought. Fees added $114 in state and local taxes, a $40 “tourism” fee, a $78 “property service charge” and a $168 cleaning tab for a total of $1,052 — 60% higher than the listed rate.

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I’ve been both a host and a guest

My experience with vacation home rentals has been a positive one.

For about three years, I hosted vacationers in our family home in New Smyrna Beach. Our guests were from all over the world, even Russia! I had regulars who came back year after year because they loved our location a block from the beach.

I covered my costs of maintaining the house, and our guests saved money. A win-win.

Our house was fairly typical: three bedrooms, two baths, kitchen, family room, sun room, patio with a barbecue, a driveway and bicycles, coolers and beach toys in the garage. We blocked out two days on each side of a rental for cleaning. 

We welcomed guests with a bottle of wine, flowers, fresh coffee and our home-made guide to the community with our personal restaurant recommendations.

My experience as a guest has been much the same.

Hosts generally go out of their way to make guests comfortable so they come back. Long-term relationships often form.

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What to expect when booking a vacation rental online

• At first, you may be overwhelmed by the listings at your destination. Take your time. Review offerings on multiple web sites (VRBO, airBnB, Booking.com, vacasa.com). Read the owner’s notes on amenities and what’s nearby.
• Compare not only base rental rates, but add-ons likes cleaning fees, management fees and taxes, Most online booking sites break down charges, but you often have to look hard to find them.
• Rental rates vary with the calendar and special events, such as Fantasy Fest in Key West, the Daytona 500, Bike Week or the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, when minimum stays and higher rates prevail. 
• You may be encouraged to purchase insurance to cover breakage and loss. You will be held responsible for breakage. Most of the time, a refundable deposit should suffice. 
• A rental deposit is required with a reservation. The balance will be due a month or so before your arrival. Cancellations may not be as liberal as a hotel room. The listing will explain the terms.
• Deposits and payments are held in escrow until you check out. The owners don’t see the money until after you leave. Damage deposits will be refunded after the property has been inspected by the housekeeper. 
• Expect your stay to be watched by neighbors, the cleaning crew and others with a stake in the rental. My housekeeper was a neighbor we had known for many years, so she knew what was going on. She wasn’t nosy, just alert. 
• Neighbors may or may not be happy to see you. Be neighborly.
• After your stay, the property owner will provide feedback to your account, and you will be asked to review your experience. Honest feedback is what makes online bookings work. 

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Booking your vacation rental

The major players in vacation home rental business are VRBO, airBnB, Booking.com, and TripAdvisor (FlipKey). Popular sites in Florida, particularly the Florida Keys, are Vacasa.com and FloridaRentals.com

Although Hotels.com is focused mostly on hotels, motels and resorts, their inventory of vacation home rentals has grown in recent years so they bear a look.

airBnb may be the most well-known of the group.

Booking.com often has the most listings. 

TripAdvisor is a good choice. It’s listings are enhanced by the comprehensive TripAdvisor travel database.

A note about online listings: You’ll often find the same properties listed on multiple sites because owners seek broad exposure. They only pay a fee to the site that gets them a booking, and they use a shared iCalendar scheduling system. If you book a rental on one, the dates are synchronized to the other sites. As an owner, I got the best results with VRBO, HomeAway (now part of VRBO), and FlipKey.

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More options

You can usually find property management companies, often realtors, who manage properties for absentee and part-time owners, and they handle everything from marketing to maintenance to scheduling cleaning staff. Some even stage their properties with furniture and other amenities.

One such property management company is Vacasa.com, which has a high concentration of listings in the Florida Keys. You’ll likely pay a little more, but they provide local staffing with uniform standards for housekeeping, nearby managers to respond to requests, and they handle maintenance on demand.

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