In the USA, it's very common to pay for a vacation home using a valid VISA, MasterCard or American Express Card. As long as your card has a VISA or MasterCard logo on it, it will most likely be accepted as a method of payment. In Europe and even in Canada a bank transfer is very common, but in the US bank transfers are very rare when paying for a vacation rental. Mostly this is because bank transfers are associated with fraud.
Many property owners will accept checks, and others will accept PayPal and payment via credit card using PayPal, but most will always require a valid credit card number to have on file in case of the damage to the property, just like a hotel requires a card imprint at check-in.
Not all vacation rentals by owner or manager will accept credit cards, as some do not like to pay the 2-3% fees. Please read our fraud blog to learn more about vacation rental fraud and how to not become a victim of it.