In general, college students are pretty frowned-upon in the vacation rental industry, but you may want to be careful not to make generalizations about a certain age group just because of a few bad eggs. Screening your renters carefully should help to weed out the bad seeds of any age group, and you may be able to open up your vacation home to a group of renters that might turn out to be just as responsible and respectable as families.

• They are a large pool of potential renters.
• They plan group vacations for the holidays. 
• They can fill weekends during your slow season.
• You might attract their friends and family through referrals.
• If you market to families with small children, your house might just be as damage-proof as it needs to be.

Cons They might try to get a larger-than-ideal group of people together and push your maximum occupancy rules. Their vacations have the reputation of causing lots of damage and being very messy to clean up after. The risk of heavy cleaning and occasional repairs might be greater. Youth comes with inexperience, carelessness, and mistakes.

• Make sure they understand that you have high expectations and you will effectively deal with any breach of the contract.
• Screen them thoroughly. 
• Some owners charge a higher security deposit or add per person charges to the total deposit amount.
• Provide proper instructions for operating appliances, the thermostat, or anything else they might use.
• Limit the maximum occupancy for college renters to decrease the likelihood of damage.
• Be prepared for anything!

Do you welcome young renters at your vacation home? Why or why not? "We like renting to college students because they usually don't haggle over prices because they're so happy to find a place.  They never leave a huge mess and they keep us booked throughout the summer." - Maria A., South Padre Island, Texas. "We do not discriminate against any group.  We have had young adults & haven't had a problem.  It is not difficult to screen them over the telephone.  Believe it or not, members of the clergy have been our worst renters!  Don't pre-judge!" -Ginny, Leakey, TX (HomeAway #103525)

Why You Should Give Renters Under 25 a Chance Sure you're allowed to deny potential renters due to their ages. But should you?   How to Screen Your Vacation Rental Guests What questions should you ask potential guests before accepting their booking?   Maximum Occupancy At Your Vacation Rental Some pointers for determining when to be flexible and when to enforce your maximum occupancy.   How to Increase Your Bookings Use a special offer to make your property easy to find and increase bookings.

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