Getting the Best Deal on a Rental in Winter Park Colorado

With Fall fast coming to an end, and winter nipping quickly at it's heels, it won't be long before ski season is here! For some people, a pricy lodge right at the base of the mountain is the only way to go, but some people prefer to rent a house or condo for a few days and relax in solitude, or with a few close friends. The best way to have an affordable getaway to Winter Park, Colorado is to find a decent condo to rent, and split the price with 3-4 of your friends or family (of course the family is only if you are not taking the trip to escape them in the first place!). This is going to allow you to either save a ton of money on a moderate place to stay, or it's going to allow you to stay in a gorgeous house that you otherwise could not afford, and let's not forget you'll be spending time with people you care about while you're there.

There are a few things to watch out for in order to make sure you get the best deal and don't end up having your vacation ruined by a sleazy deal. First off, pay attention to the details of exactly where the rental is located. Just because the advertisement says it's only minutes away from popular ski resorts, doesn't make it true. Do your research, pull up google maps or mapquest and punch in the address of the place so that you can scope out the area. Secondly, a lot of places will advertise how many people they can sleep, offering a one bedroom condo that sleeps 6 could be a tight fit. The favorite trick I've found among rental companies is saying that a queen or a double bed will sleep two. While this may be true, you have to consider if you really want to be sharing a bed with Hairy Jerry from work!

The first site I ran across while looking for some great deals on rentals in Winter Park was www.vacationrentals411.com. Using this site you can find tons of owner posted ads and usually better deals than you'd get if you actually tried to rent the house through a third party agent that wanted to make sure they got their cut. While I was looking over the site I noticed that one of the downsides is the fact that the price stays pretty constant if you stay on the weekend or the middle of the week, so if you were thinking of cutting work to get a deal, skip it and just take your 3 day weekend. On a better note, this site is very easy to navigate and all of the rentals have the price range plainly stated in the search, with even more details on the rental pages of each property.

If you want to pay a little more in order to buy through a third party company and avoid getting the run around from an owner, then head over to www.winterparkresortreservations.com. While you are not as likely to get the great deals you would when going directly through an owner, this site is going to allow you to bundle everything together and save a bit of time. You'll be able to purchase everything from your airfare and car rentals, to rentals and lift tickets, all in one convenient place. The biggest drawback to this site is that you have to dig a little bit to get pricing on any of their properties which means you have to look through every properties page in order to get a good feel for the pricing. Again, keep in mind that you will pay more for this service but done right, you can get a few good deals on complete packages that may let you pay about as much as you would going through the owners.

Now if you're like me, you may not have the money to spend on a nice place to stay right in the middle of Winter Park, or you may be trying to take a ski trip to get away from everyone that you know and have a bit of time to yourself. Hotels are still going to be pricy in the area, especially during the ski season, so why not fall back to my personal favorite when traveling and stay in a hostel! Now I'm sure if you've never spent any time in a hostel or you've only seen the gore-fest of a movie, this may not seem like the greatest idea to you, but let me assure you that hostels are great. To start with, the prices are dirt cheap, why spend $150 a night to stay in a condo alone when you can pay $25 a night, throw down your sleeping bag and get the same nights sleep. Hostel prices are low for a reason though, you will be most likely sharing a room with a few other people, and you won't have private showers or a bathroom (most of the showers are still individual stalls, you just have to wait your turn to use it!). The greatest thing about hostels is you're staying in a place run by locals who can tell you all the best spots in town, and the other guests at hostels are usually some of the most interesting characters you'll ever meet. If you're up for roughing it a bit, I highly recommend a hostel as a cheap and fun option on your ski trip.