I am a vacation rental owner who also books vacation rentals for our own holidays. These are my tips, based on my experience on both sides of the fence!

Assuming that you have decided on the location and the number of people in your party, these are the things to check for – not necessarily in this order: you need to put them in order of importance to you!

1. How many beds in how many bedrooms do you need? Many properties involve some of the party sleeping on sofa beds in living rooms, or on cheap extra beds in bedrooms. If this is your scene, that’s fine. But if some or all of your party have privacy issues, you need to make sure that the property you are considering respects those issues.

2. How many bathrooms do you need? Some couples do not wish to share bathrooms even with their best friends or with their children. Make sure you have the minimum number of bathrooms which will avoid tension.

3. Holiday rentals may also be called self catering but this does not have to mean self cooking. If you want to be able to enjoy a pleasant meal and a drink, you need 1 or preferably more decent restaurants within walking distance.

4. What type of location do you want – city centre (can be noisy but convenient), out in the countryside (quiet but you have to drive to get to shops, restaurants etc.), in a village, sea view etc.

5. For those days when you do want to cook, are there proper facilities? In a hot climate, a barbecue may be all you need. But in a cooler climate or cooler time of year, you want to be sure that you have more than 2 hotplates and preferably also an oven.

6. For the days when you want to hang around the house and relax, what are your priorities for that: a pool, a TV, DVD player and DVDs, indoor or outdoor games?

7. What kind of range of places to visit do you want within, say, 1-2 hours drive?

8. Consider the time of year you want to travel. If it is not peak season, check to what extent the restaurants, museums etc. will be open – if that matters to you.

9. Check out the weather. Make sure it is not going to be a type of weather which is unpleasant to you – too cold, too humid, too many bugs etc.

10. Check out the availability of the property. If the availability chart shows no bookings, don’t bother to inquire. Either the property is undesirable or, more likely, the owner can’t bothered to update the availability, thus wasting your time and theirs, when you inquire about dates already booked. This is inconsiderate of the owner. Favour those owners who answer your inquiries quickly and comprehensively.

11. Pricing. This is a minefield. Make sure you check out ALL the extra charges involved, over and above the basic rental. Bedlinen and towels, final cleaning, air conditioning and many others may carry extra charges. Check out the payment and cancellation terms. Ask and ask again until you are sure you have got the full information. Bear in mind that properties which seems to be priced above or below the market level for the type of property and area may have a reason for this. They may be expensive because they are better than average or cheap because they are worse than average or there may be other reasons. Don’t hesitate to ask.

12. Think about all the places you have stayed before (including hotels and houses of family and friends). What were the things which irritated you? Uncomfortable sofas? Dirty knives and forks? Do you want to be able to smoke or have a non-smoking property? Take a pet with you or be sure there will be no dog hairs anywhere. Duvets instead of sheets and blankets or vice-versa? Think about taking small things with you which will make your stay pleasanter. Like a favourite corkscrew or pillow.

13. Probably the most important thing: if you are looking at an advert for a holiday rental or a website, go down your checklist and tick off the things which are explained there. In these days of the internet, there is no excuse for rental owners not to give all the detailed information which you want. If they have done so on their website, you start off the inquiry process with some confidence that this is an owner who cares about their guests. If the information you need is not there, it may be that they do care but are poor at explaining what they are offering – when it is your own place, it is sometimes easy to overlook things which you need to spell out for potential guests. If you need information which is not in the advert, brochure or website, ask, ask and ask again. An uncaring owner will quickly get fed up with your questions. A caring owner will want to tell you everything you need to know. Even if most of the information is on the website etc., still ask questions. Again, a good owner will not mind giving information which is already available.

No list can offer complete security when booking a holiday rental – only visiting the property beforehand could do that – usually impossible because of distance. But making sure that you check off each of these items on this list – leaving some out if they do not matter to you, adding some others in which are important – will go a good way along the road to a happy holiday. The one issue which cannot be covered in this way is cleanliness but making sure you are booking with a quality owner gives you some security on that issue too.