Family vacations are precious opportunities for connection and creating lasting memories, but sometimes you come back from a family vacation feeling like the quality time was lacking. We’ve probably all hear the tired joke that we “need a vacation from our vacation” after returning home. One of the best ways to make sure you end up truly refreshed, with precious new family memories, is choosing accommodations that allow you to feel totally at home.
Here’s why we think a vacation rental is a better choice than a hotel or resort to enhance true connection on vacation.
More Space to Relax and Unwind
The primary reason a vacation rental is superior to a hotel room is the space it provides to make relaxing and unwinding far easier. Unlike the compact rooms typical in hotels, vacation rentals provide spacious accommodations, with separate bedrooms, large living areas, and outdoor spaces.
Families benefit from this extra room, as each member has a place to decompress and enjoy some downtime while still being together. Kids can play in the living room, teens might want some privacy in their own room, and parents can relax on a porch or patio.
This freedom of space reduces the tension and “crowded” feeling that hotel rooms can create. Let’s just be honest: even with your dearest family members, you need some space sometimes. With less pressure to share confined quarters, you are all free to come together naturally, allowing for a balance of personal time and togetherness that encourages deeper connections rather than forced proximity.
Family Meals: Just Like Home, But Better
A kitchen is one of the most loved features of a vacation rental, especially for families. Eating out at restaurants every meal can be costly, stressful, and even a bit impersonal. A vacation rental allows you to cook and eat together, whether it’s preparing breakfast, having a cookout, or trying new recipes. Even just sitting down to enjoy a simple meal around the dining table can lead to some of the best conversations and laughs.
Cooking as a family also allows for teamwork and creativity. Kids can help prepare meals, teens can show off their culinary skills, and everyone gets to share in the meal-making process. The experience can be truly bonding, fostering both connection and quality time that’s harder to achieve in a restaurant setting.
Without the pressures of your normal at home schedule of homework, housework, and extra curricular activities, meals in a vacation rental are just like home, but better.
Private Access to Fun
There’s plenty of fun things to do in a hotel or resort, but when you choose a vacation rental with the amenities you want, you have private and exclusive access to them. Vacation rentals like ours have game rooms, space for a movie night, pools, outdoor entertainment, and more. This means endless options for family bonding in a cozy, home-like environment, and there’s no need to quiet down at the end of the hall or worry about disturbing neighbors through thin walls.
Comfortable Environment for Multigenerational Trips
Vacation rentals are especially beneficial for multigenerational families. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins can join in on the fun without having to stay in separate rooms or, worse, different hotels. Everyone can be accommodated comfortably, allowing the entire family to come together for a reunion or shared getaway. With everyone in one space, there’s more opportunity for children to bond with extended family and for older generations to pass down family stories and traditions.
For multigenerational families that want to vacation together with young children, a vacation rental may be the only way to allow all of the adults to enjoy quality, focused time together. During nap time or after putting kids to bed, everyone else can relax in one of the living areas and create those treasured memories. In a hotel, this is nearly impossible to do.
Luxury Vacation Homes to Rent
If you’re planning a family vacation to Lake Havasu or Indio, we’ve got some amazing accommodations for you to check out.
The Brooklyn Penthouse in Indio is our large, luxury townhome equipped with everything your family needs for a desert getaway, including:
- 40 foot saltwater pool with tanning ledge and lounge chairs
- Outdoor kitchen with Thor BBQ, pizza oven, and more
- Outdoor living space with HDTV
- Lawn games
- Putting green
- Movie theater
- Game room
- Gourmet kitchen
For an amazing vacation home in Lake Havasu, you’ve got to check out The Place. It’s a spacious home that checks every box for family vacation near the lake, including:
- 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms
- Garage converted to game room with pool table, air hockey, jukebox and arcade games
- 25 foot pool with water slide and hot tub
- Luxury kitchen and spacious dining area
- Outdoor BBQ and pizza oven
- Cornhole, Bocce ball, and a putting green
- HDTVs with streaming in every room
Check out our properties any time to learn more!