Image by sgibbons
While the economic forecast for 2009, has many people tightening their belts, movie ticket sales are still going strong – and so are our vacation rental bookings. What we’re seeing is that people are re-prioritizing, and for many, a summer without the Vineyard, just isn’t the summer.
One of the best features of going the route of a renting a vacation home on the island is that it supports a low-key vacation expense-wise:
- You can save money by cooking at home in your vacation rental kitchen. You can even bring bulk food from off-island, though we’d love for you to support local business and you’ll definitely want to get your produce from our farmer’s markets.
- The average rental costs $4,500/week (that’s $571/night) which is the equivalent of two hotel rooms on the island. So the rental saves money for big families – plus, the hotel room won’t have a kitchen – so you’ll be going out for every meal. (Note: There are less expensive rentals if you don’t need a waterview, for instance, that run from $1800-2500.
- You can bring bikes and equipment from home and your rental house will have plenty of room to store it all so you won’t have to rent.
- You don’t even need a car! Depending on where your rental is on the island, you can ride your bikes everywhere. One family even rode their bikes onto the ferry and then straight to their vacation rental carrying their packs on their backs!
- With miles of beach, bike trails, ponds, hikes, nature reserves and the arboretum, you can spend your days fully entertained by the natural habitat of Martha’s Vineyard for free!
