Large and extended families know what a great value a rental home or condominium can be when compared to booking multiple hotel rooms. But not every family knows how to go about finding one.

GreatFamilyRentals.com is a website that connects families wishing to rent vacation properties with owners of condos, villas, houses, cabins, and chalets in top travel destinations. Its founder, David Goldschmidt, came up with the idea for the service after visiting the many vacation rental sites already in existence. In a recent interview, he told FTF how it all began.

He and his wife were looking for a family-friendly property and, according to David, "found it very time-consuming to sift through all the listings." Since their daughter was a toddler at the time, they wanted something that was baby-proofed, "but other sites didn't accommodate these essential features in their listings." He also wanted to know if there was a playground, portacrib, or a nearby miniature golf range, and had the same problem. The couple seized the opportunity to create a website, GreatFamilyRentals.com, which currently has 280 attributes that an owner can use to describe their property, in addition to a 5,000-character description.

Right now, for example, the site lists a 4-bedroom 2 1/2 bath luxury villa with a "kid's den" (additional bedroom w/ bunk bed and Playstation 2), game room (with pool table, air hockey, foosball, and dart board) and a large private swimming pool, located in a quiet new development in Clermont, Florida (15 minutes from Disney World) for $820/wk in the summer and $700/wk in all other seasons. To understand how specific Mr. Goldschmidt's site can be when it comes to details, click here to view this property's listing on his site.

Besides the (currently 600) listings on the site, the Goldschmidts create their own content and reviews, supplemented by content from other experts in the field. Their daughter, now 11, will soon write reviews from their travels "with a decidedly kid 'twist' (fun places to go, which restaurants have the bed kids food, cool stores, etc.)"

Since GreatFamilyRentals.com is primarily a marketing tool for owners (there is a nominal listing fee of $100-$200 per year), serving as a "matchmaker" between vacation rental owners and family vacationers, the Goldschmidts are not able to personally inspect each property, like AAA does. However, Mr. Goldschmidt says that they are working on a "GFR Stayed Here" program, which would allow properties his family visited and liked to be listed in a special area. His staff will also investigate complaints and be aggressive about removing listings that are deemed inaccurate. Eventually, Mr. Goldschmidt hopes, "This will have the effect of 'purifying' the vacation properties on the site, for the benefit of vacationers."

Best of all, for families looking to rent, the website is absolutely free. For those who wish to advertise their property on the site, the only fee they pay is the listing fee---great news considering agencies can charge owners a 20%-50% management fee. Mr. Goldschmidt adds that his website has another advantage over an agency: according to his research, owners prefer speaking with prospective renters directly, so they can get to know them, and vacationers would rather deal with owners directly, as opposed to an intermediary. Visit GreatFamilyRentals.com to view current listings.

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