k3am you definitely have to do some digging sometimes, and sometimes all the costs only come up when you click ‘book now’ - but always I can see total cost with all taxes and fees before actually entering a credit card. Vacation rentals can take some research to make sure you’re seeing the full picture, but if you read everything on the page I think you can find it. Also I think having a ton of great reviews that you read through is a good indication of quality and honestly - since the place isn’t generally going to get great reviews if the fees are crazy high and it’s not a decent value. Sometimes you can tell that a property manager is entering reviews rather than individuals - but again I think if you do your homework you’ll get the full picture.
With four kids, we usually would have to get two hotel rooms or a huge and expensive suite at a hotel. So we almost always stay in vacation rentals when we travel as a family and I’ve had good luck - after doing my research. But I enjoy that researching part of the process and I know not everyone does
sdlaura, we've done a ton of airbnb's over the years. I just find it annoying that I have to literally click "book now" to find out how much it will cost. There's no reason they can't put that on the main page. Generally when we do an airbnb, it's with a larger group, so it's at least $1k of taxes - not an insignificant amount.
I've been talking with some people at my tax class who live in that area. All 3 people have said to go with a hotel and stay towards the north side of town.
I would love to do a house with a handle full of families at the meet over at the coast. It's one meet that both compulsory and optional girls attend.