Your “Budget”

I find it surprising for a number of reasons. First of all, our villas are surprisingly economical. Compared to hotel accommodations, and other types of vacation rentals and short-term rentals throughout the United States, and in particular Florida, they represent an outstanding value. Yes, I know there are lots of inexpensive accommodations in the Orlando area, but they’re unsustainable, and come and go like a summer rain. Second, it is really easy to find out roughly, or even exactly, how much our vacation rentals cost on this website before contacting us. Third, our villas operate pretty much on a cost recovery basis – there are no big profits being made here, so why should anyone think they could possibly cost less?

(Please forgive me for what I write in this article. I never want to appear ungrateful for our wonderful guests, or that I am unsympathetic to their situations and desires. But I can’t help but wonder if people talking about their budget realize that it is so completely irrelevant. Personally, when shopping I will investigate what things cost, and then quietly decide if it’s for me or not. But why engage a vendor in a discussion about what I can afford or not? It won’t change anything.)

Aside from immediately wanting to ask “How did you set your budget?” or “Did you research what things cost prior to setting your budget?” I’m left confused by the comment.

“Your budget” is the least relevant issue in the entire equation of your trip because it is so arbitrary. You can choose any number you want and call it your budget… but if it doesn’t cover the cost of what you want to do, what is the point?

Things cost what they cost. Either you can afford it at this time, or you can’t. See You might want to revise your budget

Think about all of the expenses we have in running a villa. They are the common costs involved in running any home; maintenance, taxes, insurance, utilities mortgage interest, plus some extra ones unique to vacation rentals like cleaning and special property management.

Do you think I can call up any of these providers and say “What you’re charging doesn’t match my budget.” How would a bank, insurance company or utility provider react to such a statement?

Put another way, would you tell that to an airline? Or a car rental company? Or to Disney in regard to park tickets?

Or any of your own providers of our types of expenses for your own home?

No.

You either pay what it costs, or you don’t do it. Whether you can, or want to afford to do something, is no one else’s concern. But this is especially true of travel, which is an entirely non-necessary expenditure.

It’s not food or shelter. You don’t have to buy it.

As vacation rental owners, we have little choice over what we can charge. Vacation rentals in Orlando are universally ridiculously underpriced for guests, compared to any other location in the world for similar levels of accommodation. So obviously there is collectively little room to move on prices. One has to have a profit margin in order to give part or all of it up.

When it comes to a budget, everyone must make choices every day about how they will spent their money.

In most cases, if something costs more than we want to pay, we choose a less expensive alternative, or make no purchase whatsoever if we can’t afford the least expensive option. In the case of a Florida property, there is no flexibility when it comes to expenses. You either pay what it costs, or you don’t own the property. This is precisely one of the reasons why thousands upon thousands of owners of vacation property in Florida are selling out as I write this.

You’re the one who decides your budget. It has nothing to do with me, or my suppliers, who frankly don’t care whether I can afford what they charge. Or whether you can.

If this is a negotiation tactic on your part, it’s a terrible strategy. Budgets are completely irrelevant to the matter at hand. Talking about them is like kicking tires in the new car show room. It only irritates the seller and demonstrates that you know little of what you’re buying.

Whether you can afford something is a completely separate matter. Just as is whether or not you want to pay a certain amount for something or not. But you don’t want to share either of these things, generally speaking. For some strange reason, people who can’t afford vacation rentals tend to take the worst care of them and/or cause the most damage as guests. And vacation rental owners desire guests who want and appreciate the opportunity to stay in their home at the price offered, as they make the best guests – causing the least amount of trouble and taking the best care of the property while there.

We would love to have you come and stay in one of our properties on your vacation. But I have no desire, nor can I afford, to pay money out of pocket to have you come and use my home.

I definitely have no budget for that.