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A winter day in a resort in the Dominican Republic where the temperature was 80 degrees Fahrenheit. |
Save money on "hotels" for senior retirees
One of the newest ways to save money on hotels when you travel is a variation on a vacation rental. Among the new online companies facilitating short term rentals for people of all ages are AirBnB and Istopover.
| They charge
a modest fee on the rental amount and serve as a financial
intermediary between the renter and the homeowner.
You pay when you make the reservation, but they do not pay the homeowner until after you have actually been in the rental unit. If it turns out not to be as advertised, you can stop the payment through AirBnB. |
The success of AirBnB, which has been around since 2007, has resulted in at least one imitator: Istopover. This Canadian-based website is new and has nicely organized listings, easy search, lots of photos. Istopover also has a special section for people age 50 years and over—although it is not clear how this section differs from their regular listings.
The most apparent difference between AirBnB and Istopover is in the number of listings: For example, for San Francisco, Istopover has just 20 listings for short term rentals contrasted with over 1100 for AirBnB. In London Istopover has 234, in Santa Fe, 28. And the prices at Istopover seem to be generally higher than AirBnB. This may change as the site becomes more well-known.
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Vacation in a foreign country for free Imagine living in a quaint village in the south of France for a month. Or spending a few weeks in a Cape Cod cottage. And the cost? Zero. What you do is simply swap your home for a few weeks with someone else in another location. Online websites: HomeExchange.com or homelink.org. Or simply search for "home exchange". This service works best if you live in an attractive location. |
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Very Cheap and Free--especially for young people
Hostels have been around for decades and are now open to all ages, but they are most popular with young travelers. They are quite cheap, usually clean, but you will probably find yourself bunking with six to eight other people. Not much privacy. Find them at hostels.com.
Yet another way to travel thriftily is through the social networking website called couchsurfing.com. Hosts are not allowed to charge anything.
NOTE: All names
on this site have been changed to protect individual privacy.
The stories are real, the names are not.
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