We are travelling to Orlando for Christmas 2004 and want to stay in a 3 bedroom house with a private screened pool.

There are many web sites etc. but it is impossible to tell which ones have a good reputation and, preferably, some sort of bonding. The fear is that Christmas is such a busy time and we could pick the wrong option and have problems.

Has anybody used a particular company or individual over many years that has provided quality homes and the service to match.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you.

We rented a 4 bdrm home in Kissimmee (Orlando) with a screened in pool with a jacuzzi. Loved everything about it - location, set up of house, being able to have breakfast etc at home...we rented through vrbo.com and each of the possible rental owners we dealt with were pleasant, helpful and got back to us right away. Many of these owners are from the U.K. The nice guy we rented from lives in Scotland. If you like, I could provide his name and email address and you could contact him directly. Post back and let me know!

Hello Karen

Thanks for such a quick response.

Have looked at VRBO and there are hundreds of options.

The address would be useful to look on the web site and then contact the owner for costs etc.

Thanks again. Ian

Ian, the owner is David Field and he actually sent me a Christmas card this year and he gave me his new website adverting the house! www.murrayfield.net/villa
If you contact him, please tell him Karen Klein in Virginia sent you and sends her regards! He's a lovely man. I hope his place suits your needs and is available for your dates!
Good luck,
Karen

AAA in Pittsburgh advertises house for rent in the Orlando area at very good prices...why not get in touch w/your local AAA...you don't have to be a member

Have a look at jgvillas.com

I have successfully used Award Vacation Homes (www.awardpoolhomes.com) because they are rated by AAA, and are a member of a BBB program. I called AAA and BBB to check them out before I used them. I too was concerned about renting from an individual, not knowing who their local management company is and how good they are (it is really the management co. you have to deal with if something goes wrong while you are there.) However, the prices on the houses rented by these companies like Award are higher than if you rent direct from an individual. For instance, Windsor Palms resort (a very nice resort community w/pool homes and lots of recreation amenities, onsite convenience store, basketball/tennis courts, etc) rents directly from the resort rental office, but that costs more than renting the same home directly from the owner. So you pay a price for renting from the company, but I felt like I at least have some recourse w/Award because if I have trouble w/them I can call AAA and BBB and get some attention.
For the past few months I have been participating in an online forum for Orlando rental villa owners, run mostly by Brits but also some U.S. owners participate. If you go to www.orlandovillas.com, one of the 3 sites where their villas are advertised by the owners, on the upper right side of the screen is a place to click go to the forum site. It's a good place to listen in and get to know the owners. Also lots of good Orlando info on their site. I am starting to feel comfortable enough that I may rent directly from one of them next year.

Thank you all for the responses.

This gives me a starting point for some research.

Thanks again