Latest 'Renting Paradise' e-Guidebook Uncovers Vacation Rental Gems in San Francisco Area

Renting a vacation home is a great alternative for families and small groups. 'Renting Paradise/San Francisco and Marin County' is the first guidebook with unbiased, firsthand reviews of unique vacation rentals in the city of San Francisco and Marin ...
Distribution Source : PRWeb

Date : Tuesday - May 10, 2005

Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) May 10, 2005 -- Many San Francisco-bound travelers feel lucky to find a clean, well-located, reasonably priced hotel—a place to "lay their head" after a day of sightseeing. Now imagine soaking in the hot tub on the deck of an A-frame houseboat or watching the sun set on San Francisco Bay from a private roof garden on Nob Hill. These are just two of the vacation homes for rent reviewed in a new guidebook called Renting Paradise/San Francisco and Marin County: 10 Amazing Houseboats, Flats, Cottages & Estates You Can Call Home for a Weekend…or More.

"Renting a vacation home is a great alternative for families and small groups," said author Joyce Hadley Copeland. "They combine private bedrooms with comfortable common areas. Most have luxury amenities and amazing views, some even accept pets and many are more affordable than a nice hotel room."

Renting Paradise/San Francisco and Marin County includes a range of home-styles, including a Victorian survivor of 1906 earthquake and a mountain estate bordering a Point Reyes nature conservancy, half an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge. "Over the years, I"ve developed a sixth sense for finding places with lots of character, "said Copeland, who got the idea to create a guidebook series after researching vacation homes for her own family reunion.

"I spent hours scouring multiple web sites," she said. "The only way I could keep things straight was by jotting lots of notes on the fly. After all that work, I started to feel apprehensive about plunking down a deposit and committing a week of my family"s time based on a brief description and few digital photos."

When she discovered there were no independent guides to vacation rentals similar to the multitude of guides available for bed and breakfasts (B&Bs;) and charming inns, Copeland decided to create her own series called Renting Paradise. Each edition focuses on a select group of rentals in geographically defined areas in Northern California. (The first focused on Sonoma County.) Only 50 pages long, on average, Renting Paradise contains dozens of live links to a wealth of detail—from direct contact information to fun things to do and see.

Readers appreciate the personal reviews based on Copeland"s experience staying overnight at each rental. "The author's gift for finding the right words to make you see a place is what makes Renting Paradise so valuable," says Kimberly Friddle, Houston, Texas.

Why is Renting Paradise an e-guidebook? "More of us are researching trips and making travel reservations online and virtually all rentals are listed on a handful of web sites, so it just made sense" Copeland said. Also, the average printed guidebook is updated every two years. Renting Paradise can be updated instantly. Readers can easily bookmark specific reviews, quickly jump from page to page using internal links and even print out specific pages.