How to Rent a Vacation Home for Coachella

What are your lodging options for Coachella? Most people think it's either a hotel/motel or a campsite.

There's a third option you may not have considered, and in my experience, it's by far the BEST option: Renting a vacation home!

Think about it... The greater Palm Springs area has tons of houses and condos that are owned by people who only live there in the winter and rent them out the rest of the year. Most of these vacation rentals have a 3 night minimum. A lot of these houses' nightly rate is about the same price as a nice hotel room. So why stay cooped up in a tiny motel room when you could have a whole house to yourself? And a lot of these vacation pads are really dope, with pools and jacuzzis, etc. And if you cram a bunch of your peeps in there, on couches and air mattresses, you can lower the cost per person down even more!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer
• Internet access
• Credit Card
• Phone
• Friends

1. 
    

   MAKE SURE YOUR PEEPS ARE ON BOARD. E-mail your buddies and explain your plan to rent a dope vacation home to be your Coachella home base. Then watch their replies come flyin' in (cuz who wouldn't want to stay at your party pad, right?!) Don't forget to account for flakes! Collect their money as early as you can!

2. 
    

   FIND YOUR DREAM HOME. Use your ninja-like internet searching skills to find an awesome crash pad for you and your crew. There's tons of rental property management websites that have online listings, here's a few to get you started:
   http://www.vacationpalmsprings.com/
   http://www.ps4rent.com/
   http://www.vamoose.com/
   http://www.vacationhomes.com

3. 
    

   KEEP IT CLOSE. Keep in mind as you look at listings that the closest city to the festival is Indio, followed by (in order) Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Thousand Palms, Cathedral City, Cabazon, Palm Springs, and Desert Hot Springs

4. 
    

   TAKE ADVANTAGE! These houses and condos have features hotels rooms don't, like full kitchens, washers and dryers, etc. Use em! Wash the Coachella sweat and Polo Field dust out of your clothes. Cook up a big hearty breakfast in the morning. Hell, cook up a big hearty breakfast while a DJ spins vinyl right there in the kitchen– that's what we did last year! (see pic)

5. 
    

   DON'T LOSE YOUR DEPOSIT! When you have a bunch of party peeps all jacked up on Coachella adrenaline (and who knows what else) coming back to the house after a killer Daft Punk set, it's real easy for the party to get out of control. Keep in mind that unlike a hotel, renting a house requires a hefty deposit up front, and if your peeps trash the house... guess who's pickin up the tab? And if the neighbors call the cops, that's another story...

[mjhca]

on 10/9/2007 Don't forget another vacation rental search engine --
http://www.vacationcompass.com