Rent a Villa for a Luxury Home Away from Home

Wimco, a Newport, Rhode Island and London-based company specializing in booking luxury vacation villas, offers tips on how to rent a villa.

Janis Gordon, Vice President of Marketing and Sales of Wimco, suggests the following steps when considering a villa vacation:

Know where you want to go
In the case of Italy, for example, harvest festivals abound in Umbria and Tuscany throughout the fall. If you are not sure, seek out a company with multiple regions and ask their help in comparing unique qualities of each region. Use their expertise and augment it with your own travel guide research.

Select a reputable villa company
It should have been in business for some years and the staff should be knowledgeable about their product. Be sure the villa company that has a printed catalog in addition to a website. Also, make sure the staff can guide you both on and off their website. This gives credibility to the company.

Consider the Source
When shopping for a villa, remember that an owner often will not be as objective about his own property (he is trying to get you to rent it) as a villa managment company will be. With numerous properties, they can steer you to the most appropriate villa and make adjustments if a particular villa is near construction or temporary less desirable.

Ask the right questions such as:

• Is the villa private from other homes?

• Does is have the number of beds in sizes you need?

• Are children's bedroom approximate to supervision?

• If the party includes couples traveling together, are bedrooms equivalent in quality?

• Does the swimming pool have stairs?

• What attractions are near the villa? What festivals, vineyards, shopping, museums, golf, antiquities?

• Is there a local managemtn company for airport meet/greet and villa orientation and who covers off-hour emergencies?

• Can the villa provide such a hotel-type amenities as massages, personal trainers, chefs, provisioning services?

• Is there a domestic staff to assist vacation needs? Is the staff included in the rental rate, or is it addtional? If additional, are quality domestic staffs available?

For more information, visit Wimco.