Renting a Villa with your Friends

Renting a Villa with your Friends

What could go wrong?

Many villa rentals are rented by couples or friends. It is a great way for guests to share in the expenses and stay in some incredible properties all over the world. A property might rent for $10,000 per week, which could in many cases be beyond the price point of an individual couple. However, if it was split three ways with three couples the price point would be $3,333 per couple. This is far more reasonable when it’s broken down per couple .

During the discovery process of trying to select the best fitting villa rental, we highly recommend to be extremely selective in terms of villas that have bedroom parity. You will often find many villas will have a fantastic master bedroom that will include a kingsize bed, incredible view, large ensuite bathroom, and lots of special features. The remaining bedrooms may have queen or twin beds, not a great view, and average features.

This makes it a major challenge for couples as they must decide who will get the master bedroom. No matter what, one couple will be delighted and the others will feel they got the short stick. They all paid equally but were not treated equally. Right away, on the first day of arrival, there will be hidden tension. The remaining nights the “pillow talk” can often get ugly.

Couples sometimes suggest they rotate rooms during their stay, but that never works as that means each couple can never really get settled in or totally unpack as they know in a few days they will be changing rooms. Other solutions may include the couple that gets the master pays more than 33%. That never works either because no matter what couples will not feel good about it.

This defeats the entire purpose of traveling with close friends. You want to enjoy each other’s company right from day one. The last thing you need is tension and moments of being uncomfortable.

To eliminate ugly “pillow talk” for groups traveling together, we suggest selecting villas that provide parity with the bedrooms. For owners looking to find ways to make their properties more rental friendly consider trying to have bedrooms with parity in mind.