Don’t get me wrong. I’ve stayed in plenty of vacation rentals. If you’re traveling with three families, need four bedrooms and a full kitchen, they make a lot of sense.
But as I’ve gotten older, they’ve started feeling less like vacations and more like temporary homeownership. To-do list included.
None of those things are all that difficult. It’s just that I already have my own chores waiting for me when I get home. While I’m on vacation, I don’t want to rent someone else’s.
MAYBE I’M THE ONE WHO CHANGED
When I was younger, I thought you could measure luxury.
A bigger room. A bigger kitchen. More bedrooms. More space.
These days it’s taken on a whole new meaning.
Luxury is someone else making the bed.
Luxury is not wondering where the extra garbage bags are.
Luxury is asking the concierge for a recommendation instead of scrolling through reviews for an hour.
Luxury isn’t having more square footage. It’s having fewer responsibilities.
That’s why, these days, you’ll usually find me in a hotel instead of a vacation rental.
THERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU JUST CAN’T RENT
You can rent a house. But you’re never going to find a vacation rental where…
…your afternoon ends with a complimentary rooftop cocktail overlooking San Miguel de Allende.
…your “room” floats through the Douro Valley while you enjoy a glass of wine on the Sun Deck.
…you spend the night in a Frank Gehry masterpiece in the heart of Spain’s Rioja wine country.
…your lobby is also home to one of Japan’s Michelin-starred restaurants, just an elevator ride from your room.
…you wake up at a private game reserve in South Africa, head out on safari, and come back to cocktails around the fire.
These places aren’t just where you sleep. They’re part of the reason you went in the first place.
AND THE BEST PART?
Someone else folds the towels, makes the bed, takes out the trash – and cleans whatever that is that my son left in the sink.
I simply get to enjoy my vacation.
I know rentals work for a lot of people. They’ve worked for me.
But now?
I’d much rather spend my last morning on vacation lingering over a breakfast I didn’t cook than wondering if I remembered to put the keep-the-bears-out bungee cords back on the trash bins.
Call me lazy. I don’t care… I’m on vacation.
