Great Customer Testimonials
or Unbiased Reviews?

Both of course. Great customer testimonials beat vacation rental listings alone. Adding independent, unbiased reviews is even better.

The focus is a new (another) hotel review site, this one manned by hired guns -- professional reviewers trained to review a property by the book -- a 60-page training manual, to be exact!

It’s an interesting launch. But for me, the immediate takeaway is this: reviews written by a professional inspire a level of trust that, say, vacation rental listings, great customer testimonials and even trusted testimonial aggregate sites, like TripAdvisor, can’t consistently duplicate.

Says Joe: “These online reviews, while often entertaining and informative in the aggregate, are typically written by anonymous people — some of whom, for all I know, could be in a federal penitentiary and just killing time with wistful critiques of places they have never seen.”

Here are five things a good professional reviewer will always give you that even great customer testimonials don't always deliver.

1. The straight story

We all know marketing hype when you read it. Real life experience is rarely so perfect. And places with great character have flaws, just like people do. So every Beach Vacation Rental Scout review notes “The Very Best Things” and also what’s “What’s Not Perfect”.

Great customer testimonials tend to focus on personal stories -- which are fun to read and can be enlightening. But you can't always tell whether they're leaving out details that might be important to you.

2. Been-there-done-that perspective

Fuzzy, worn-out phrases make me wary. That’s where writers hide when they don’t have personal experience to draw on. I want to hear enough specific, colorful detail so that I’m satisfied that the reviewer has actually slept in the bed.

Great customer testimonials fill that void. But they're so personal that sometimes it's difficult to separate the quirky preferences of another person (someone you don't know at all) from what you would accept.

A professional reviewer takes a just-the-facts approach, providing the enough information for you to make a decision or at least follow up with the owner or manager to get the detail you need.

3. Consistent coverage

This is where great customer testimonials by even the best-intentioned travelers fall short. Professional reviewers cover the same bases every time, using a consistent format for presenting detailed information they know many different prospective renters want.

4. Good quality photos

Duh! And yet, way too many vacation rental homes present you with scary shadowed spaces, weird angles or, worse, only beach shots. (What are they hiding?)

Look for links to Flickr photo albums or YouTube slide shows on Beach Vacation Rental Scout vacation home reviews.

5. Added value

Context is important. If a vacation rental home is on the beach, what’s the beach like? What’s within an easy walk?

One of my very favorite things in Beach Vacation Rental Scout reviews is the Owner’s Favorites section. This is where I coax out the names of the local gems owners love to recommend to friends -- the restaurants, hikes and things to do (many, only the locals know).

Still not convinced?

Here are a handful of things I learned by staying overnight that I never would have known if I'd just done a quick walk-through or made my decision based on a listing written by the owner or property manager.

5 Things an Overnight Stay Will Tell You That a Listing
(Even One With Great Customer Testimonials)
Probably Won't

Would any of these on-the-spot discoveries make or break your vacation? You decide.

1. The pipes (or traffic, or locals) are noisy.

I thought the First Airborne was buzzing my bedroom at 6 a.m. when the neighbor stepped into the shower.

The walls groaned and moaned with rushing water. Water burbled up in my tub. (yuck)

2. The location (layout, amenities) is not what you expected.

One home with a spectacular view should have been an easy walk to the beach.

But, there was no safe way to cross the busy road separating the home's upscale neighborhood from the charming village and cove.

So close to the sand -- yet, no way to get out of getting into your car and driving, and parking, to walk on it.

3. Your preconceptions were right.

A freshly made-over condo -- granite counters, gleaming stainless appliances, model-home furnishings -- had the polish of a Hyatt.

But, no heart. No personal welcome. In fact, in place of a welcome book, there was a posted list of "Rules".

Instead of personal recommendations, a short stack of location brochures.

The message was clear -- you're on your own. Which is okay, until you've experienced the alternative in home reviewed on this site.

4. Your preconceptions were wrong.

Condos are not always as cookie-cutter as I imagined.

In Oceanside, I stayed in a spacious condo with a laid back bungalow feel. It was tucked into a resort-style complex with ocean views and access on three sides.

The private common area was a lush slice of Hawaii that far, far exceeded my expectations and made it tempting to hang out in quiet corners surrounded by streams, fountains and tropical palms and bird of paradise instead of going to the beach!

5. Bottom line: How a place feels matters. A lot.

It's not about the granite counter tops, it's the greeting. If you choose to rent a vacation home, you're choosing to forgo sterile style in favor of a more personal, Mi casa es tu casa welcome.

You don't pay any more to rent these vacation homes. You just have to know where to find them.

Stick with me and I'll point you to the best vacation home values.

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