Mimbeo.com-Your Home Away From Home

Oct 6, 2009 | 1 Comment |

By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

Vacation rentals are a much more common travel feature in Europe. However, as travelers in the United States become more savvy and sophisticated they increasingly are turning to vacation rentals.

Mimbeo.com, a Minneapolis based start-up, is a vacation rental website dedicated to offering travelers an excellent, easy-to-use resource for planning their next vacation – while providing its rental owner/manager members a free marketing resource. Mimbeo.com offers rental owners the same service and value they receive from the pay-for-placement rental sites, minus all of the fees.

Not only does mimbeo provide a great website, they broadcast their member listings to 25 social networks and websites…all for free.

Vacation rentals have many advantages over hotels. As mimbeo states on its site, people who travel extensively for business or leisure often feel that every hotel room starts to look the same after a few trips. Hotel rooms can be impersonal and uninteresting. When staying in a hotel room, you will often be lucky to have some sort of balcony, let alone a view. Meals must be eaten out at restaurants, adding to the cost of your vacation. For larger families, multiple hotel rooms are necessary for everyone to have even a modicum of personal space and privacy. Walls are often paper thin, guaranteeing you will be able to hear the television blaring at 1:00 a.m. in the adjacent room. Also rigid check in and check out times can be a burden. Instead of staying in a cookie cutter, boring hotel many people look at the possibilities of renting a vacation home.

Vacation rentals can offer unique and memorable accommodations. Larger vacation homes can accommodate bigger families, or even multiple families traveling together. With the ability to tailor the size of your vacation rental to accommodate everyone in your traveling party, you can ensure that every member of your group has all the privacy and space they need. Families can enjoy their time together without sacrificing the ability to retreat into their separate rooms at the end of the day. The owners of these homes are more likely is flexible in regard to details such as check-in and check-out times. Some owners even allow their guests to bring along pets, if you are interested in traveling with the family dog or cat. Many vacation homes feature fully equipped kitchens and outside grills, so that you can prepare your meals in your home away from home, instead of dining out at pricey restaurants.

Mimbeo.com offers listings in all 50 states plus Canada and Mexico. They currently do not have listings in every state, but they do have extensive listings in Minnesota and Wisconsin and many other states. They appear committed to growing their database. They have only been live since September.