Planning for Sweet Retreats Abroad
If you're considering renting a villa overseas, use these links to find international home brokers and tourist bureaus -- and don't forget travel insurance.
May 10, 2006
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Renting a private home abroad can make any tourist feel like a local. You can learn more about this affordable way to vacation by reading The Thrill of a Villa. We've compiled useful links for international home brokers and tourist bureaus to help you plan your getaway. Then you might want to look into getting travel insurance for the trip.
Private Home Brokers
Find the perfect home away from home with these international rental agencies:
- Barclay International Group; specializes in European properties.
- Doorways Ltd.; with properties in Italy and elsewhere.
- Hideaways International; provides a large selection of Caribbean properties.
- Homes Away; specializes in high-end properties in Europe, with personalized service while staying in your rental.
- Internet Villas; handles properties in Italy, Mexico and France.
- Italian Vacation Villas; rents villas, farmhouses and apartments throughout Italy.
- Just France; provides housing throughout France, including Paris, Provence, Côte d'Azur, Burgandy and St. Tropez.
- La BellaToscana; translates roughly as "pretty Tuscany," emphasizes rentals in that region in Italy.
- Overseas Conection; concentrates on housing in Europe.
- RentVillas.com; with properties throughout Europe.
- Villas International; focuses primarily in France and Italy.
- Wimco; provides many choices in the Caribbean and elsewhere.
Tourist Bureau Listings
You can learn more about your destination through the country's tourist bureau. These departments may also recommend rental agencies to help you arrange housing. This can offer added assurance that the company is reputable and will treat you well during your stay. Some bureaus list names of agencies and owners directly on their sites. Others may list a toll-free number for you to speak with a representative -- not a salesperson -- who can offer private home rental agency referrals.
Use these links to visit tourist bureau Web sites for popular villa-rental locations:
For a list of other national tourist bureaus, see the Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory.
Travel Insurance
After you've settled on the location and found the perfect home, check your rental agreement's terms and conditions for refunds in case an unforseen problem prevents you from going.
Some agencies and owners generally stick renters with the full bill under any circumstance while other agencies and owners may promise partial or full refunds for an extra charge on the rental rate. Still others will issue refunds if they can find renters to replace you.
If no refunds are available, consider purchasing travel insurance. This is particularly important with an overseas house rental because:
- You typically have to pay much or all of the cost well in advance of arrival.
- You usually cannot pay with a credit card, which means you can't take advantage of any purchase protection insurance offered by a credit card issuer.
- Homeowners insurance policies rarely, if ever, cover private home rentals overseas.
An insurance policy generally costs about 5% to 7% of the total cost of your trip. Premiums are usually determined by your gender, age, the amount of coverage you are requesting, your destination, length of stay and the risk of activities you are planning to undertake (such as deep-sea diving).
A good starting point to find price quotes on policies is InsureMyTrip.com, an online travel insurance aggregator. Some of the leading travel insurance providers are:
- Access America, Richmond, Va.
- CSA Travel Protection, San Diego, Cal.
- HTH Worldwide, Radnor, Pa.
- Medex Assist, Baltimore, Md.
- Travel Guard, Stevens Point, Wis.
- Travel Insured International, East Hartford, Conn.
- Travelex Insurance Services, Omaha, Neb.
Each of these insurers are backed by well-rated underwriters. But if you find a deal with a different insurer, consider using InsureMyTrip.com to find out who underwrites its policies. For example, the site points out that policies from Travel Guard, the top seller of travel insurance, are underwritten by AIG, an insurer with a top rating by independent rating agency A.M. Best -- a fact that is not obvious when you visit the Travel Guard Web site itself.
Usually, if you recognize the name of the major underwriter, that's a good sign the policy is low-risk for you to buy. Should you be unfamiliar with the underwriter's name, the Insurance Information Institute recommends you contact your state's insurance regulator to find out if the company (not its underwriter) is licensed to sell travel insurance to you and other customers in your state. If so, the policies are safe to buy. You can find your state insurance regulator on Kiplinger.com's Insurance page.