How renting a vacation home works in Orlando, Kissimmee and Davenport

What is a vacation home and why are they all in gated resorts?

A vacation home is a full house rented short term: 2 to 15 bedrooms, a private pool, a full kitchen and, very often, themed bedrooms for the kids. Kissimmee brands itself the vacation home capital of the world, with more than 30,000 homes, and 8 out of 10 listings in the city have 3 or more bedrooms.

They cluster in gated resorts like Storey Lake, ChampionsGate, Solara, Windsor Hills and Solterra for a legal reason: the counties only allow nightly rentals in specific tourist zones, so the entire market organized itself into communities purpose-built for it, with 24h gates, clubhouses, water parks and resort pools. Regular residential neighborhoods cannot host nightly guests.

Legal homes operate under a Florida state license (DBPR) and collect lodging tax. It is a professional market: local management companies handle listing, cleaning, maintenance and guest support, the same model Orlando Best Place runs.

How does the booking process work, step by step?

From choosing a home to checkout, the standard process with a professional manager has 5 steps:

1. Choose the home and the resort Compare bedrooms, distance to the parks and resort amenities. Always ask for the exact resort name: "close to Disney" can mean 10 or 25 minutes by car.
2. Get the full quote A serious quote shows nightly rate, cleaning fee and taxes before you pay. In this area, lodging tax runs from 12% to 13.5% depending on the county.
3. Pay securely online Professional managers process cards through certified providers like Stripe (PCI Level 1, the highest certification). Your card details are never stored with the company.
4. Receive your access codes Check-in is self service: before arrival you get the door and gate codes by email. No front desk, no line, no waiting on anyone.
5. Enjoy with local support During the stay, the manager’s support team handles anything about the house. At checkout, just follow the departure instructions.

What goes into the price? Fees and taxes, no surprises

The real price of a vacation home is nightly rate, plus cleaning fee, plus lodging tax. A NerdWallet analysis of 1,000 US Airbnb bookings found fees and taxes adding up to 32% of total cost, so always compare the final total, never the advertised nightly rate.

At Orlando Best Place the quote shows the final all-in total before payment, and there is no platform service fee.

Vacation home or hotel: which one wins?

For families and groups of 6 or more, the vacation home usually beats the hotel: one rental replaces two or three rooms, and the cost per person drops sharply. NerdWallet cites 3-bedroom Kissimmee condos from US$ 1,500 per week, around US$ 35 per person per night for a party of 6.

Beyond price, count the full kitchen (cooking breakfast and a few dinners saves a family several hundred dollars a week, per industry estimates), the laundry, the private pool and the space for the group to actually live together. For couples on short stays, a hotel can be cheaper; the honest math is always total stay cost divided per person.

Is it cheaper to book direct or on Airbnb?

The same home, with the same manager, the same cleaning crew and the same standards, typically costs 10% to 15% less booked direct on the manager’s site than on Airbnb. The difference is the platform commission, which still exists, just baked into the price.

Since late 2025 Airbnb no longer shows a guest service fee: it now charges hosts 15.5%, and the market rebuilt that cost into the advertised nightly rate. You do not see the fee, but it is in the price. On a direct booking that commission does not exist, and the savings show up on both sides: the guest pays less for the same home and the manager keeps more for the same work, which funds exactly what matters, cleaning, maintenance and guest care.

Percentages published by the channels themselves and by industry press in 2025 and 2026. Actual savings vary by home and dates.

Booking direct also changes the service: you message the people who hold the keys on WhatsApp, and date changes or surprises are solved with the decision maker, not a platform queue. Orlando Best Place homes are listed on the big portals too; the difference is that here you pay the price without the middleman.

When to go: high and low season in Orlando

High season is Christmas and New Year (the peak of the year), spring break in March and April, and the US summer from June through August. Low season runs from late August to early November: September is the quietest and cheapest month in the area.

For a 4 to 6 bedroom home, the market runs around US$ 150 to US$ 350 per night most of the year, and can double for Christmas and Easter weeks. Guests book on average 65 days ahead; for holiday weeks in the most popular resorts, book much earlier.

What to check before booking: an insider’s checklist

• The exact resort name and address, so you know the real distance to the parks
• Whether pool heating is included or extra, especially November through March
• The final quote in writing, with cleaning and taxes itemized
• That the home holds a Florida license (DBPR) and charges lodging tax
• The house rules: maximum occupancy, parking and quiet hours
• How access codes are delivered and how support works during the stay

Frequently asked questions about renting a home in Orlando