Short-Term Rental Hosts Confront Cleaning Fee Conundrum

Goa is not ready to lose out on the destination wedding business, especially this close to the upcoming wedding season. The state has rolled back its decision to increase the fees to hold private events, including weddings.  

Waiting in a rental car line is high on my list of things I try to avoid after a flight. This was confirmed on a recent trip to Washington when I saw hectic crowds squeezing around the construction at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. This time around, I avoided them all with Kyte, a rental car company started in 2020 that delivers cars right to you or offers pick-ups and drop-offs at lots near select airports.

“S cottsdale topped the list of destinations for my sister’s bachelorette,” says Alexis Vazquez. Vazquez wrapped her maid of honor duties last month. Her voice has an edge of relief as she chronicles the logistics of planning her sister Reina’s dream bachelorette in Arizona. “Planning a wedding can be a nightmare, but people underestimate how complicated it is to throw a successful multi-day bachelorette party.”

With four theme parks and two water parks to explore, any fan knows it takes more than a day to experience Walt Disney World Resort. Thirteen miles from the “Most Magical Place on Earth”, Kissimmee is the best place to stay for a Disney marathon. Florida’s lakeside city has its own airport and Amtrak station and offers a wealth of restaurants, entertainment, and amenities to streamline a stay.

Twenty miles south of Orlando, Kissimmee is a hub for family vacations in Florida. Walt Disney World Resort is a 15-minute drive from the lakeside city which makes an equally convenient base for LEGOLAND Florida, Peppa Pig Theme Park, Cape Canaveral, and the Atlantic coast. The “Vacation Home Capital of the World” isn’t short on thrilling rentals with themed bedrooms to delight toddlers through to grandparents. These are the coolest Kissimmee vacation rentals for families in Florida’s entertainment capital.

Leading full-service luxury villa company Rental Escapes has added as many as 65 hand-selected villas to its impressive collection of unique stays around the world.

Elivaas, a tech-driven luxury villa and apartment management Indian startup, has secured $5 million in a funding round led by Bengaluru-based 3one4 Capital, with participation from Peak XV’s Surge and other angel investors. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Eliot Davenport, a 32-year-old SEO manager and business owner from Melbourne, Australia. It's been edited for length and clarity.

On a cloudy day in Portland, Maine, with the sound of seagulls cawing overhead and the air thick with the smell of salty water, I spied him: TikTok's most famous lobsterman, dressed in a Luke's Lobster T-shirt and accompanied by a bearded camera operator, ready to catch content at any moment.

Whether you are booking last-minute travel or simply want to try to save money on your next trip — and who doesn't? — make sure you browse the TopCashBack shopping portal first. (If you use our Tell-a-Friend referral link, you can get a $25 bonus.)

I found a great deal for a short-term rental on St. Thomas this past March: eight nights for me and my two kids at a villa at Marriott’s Frenchman’s Cove for $1,988 through Vrbo, booked two months in advance. I wrote to the owner five days before the trip and didn’t hear back, so I tried again. No answer. The day before departure, I contacted Vrbo, who got in touch with the owner, who canceled. Vrbo said it would be in touch about rebooking, but as we boarded the first flight of our trip from Denver, we still had no place to stay. To buy time, I agreed to be bumped from our next flight in the connecting city. Vrbo told me I could take a refund (and find same-day lodging in the Caribbean during spring break, no thanks) or reserve a hotel through their partner Expedia while they helped me book a new Vrbo property. They said I could spend up to $3,976 for the new booking — double what I had originally paid — but when I said that might not be enough, the agent told me she would advocate for covering additional costs. After a lot of stress, we ended up staying at a Westin resort for two nights via Expedia, at a Vrbo rental at the Ritz-Carlton resort for four nights and the final night at a Vrbo in town. The lodging cost was $4,147 on top of my original reservation, an amount that doesn’t include $200 in “environmental” fees at the Ritz, all the taxi fares and the loss of a vacation day. After lots of back and forth, Vrbo offered me $3,330. I think they should cover at least the full amount. Can you help?

Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, said Wednesday that he hopes to eventually expand beyond just short-term rentals and even travel.