Short-term rentals are designed for individuals who need temporary housing for as little as a day to as long as a few months. Vacation/holiday rental properties, some efficiency apartments that are rented on a weekly basis, virtual office space, executive offices and corporate housing all fall into this category.
Corporations use short-term rentals for their employees who are relocating or visiting from another city. Short-term rentals are convenient for people who are having their houses remodeled or for those who have sold their homes and are waiting to move into a new residence. Families who vacation together find the convenience of short-term rentals a cost-saving (over hotels) way to spend their vacation dollars. Short-term rentals provide more of a home-like atmosphere, with kitchens and laundry facilities.
Usually we think of short-term rentals in terms of housing, but auto rentals are almost always short term, generally one or two days, but can sometimes be a month or more. Furniture rentals are a convenient way to furnish an apartment or home until permanent furnishings are purchased. Furniture rentals are used in home sales for "staging" purposes to give potential buyers an idea of how the house will look furnished. Movies are rented for only a couple of days at a time. Most men use tuxedos on one occasion--their wedding day--so rather than purchase a tuxedo, they will rent them.
The most outstanding reason for short-term rentals is convenience. Short-term rental properties give the renter the comforts of a home. Corporate short-term rentals provide the business traveler with all the necessities to conduct business along with the conveniences of a hotel, such as with maid and wakeup call service. Executive/virtual offices offer secretarial services, a business phone number and address, and office space and meeting rooms.
Short-term rentals have elicited some controversy because of their "transient" nature from the United States to England and Australia. An article from 1986 in the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times, for instance, reported on alleged violations of a county law that prohibits short-term rentals of properties in residential communities around Weeki Wachee.
There are short-term rental properties in practically every major city in the world. On-line searches will reveal a plethora of websites for short-term rentals, and additional information can be found in local newspapers as well as in publications that can be obtained in grocery and convenience stores.
