Where to stay: we review travel nurse temporary accommodation options

The easiest and most efficient ways to find your home-from-home

The rise of short-term rental websites has made life SO much easier for travel nurses! Gone are the days of dismal bedsits and the hazards of trying to book a place from hundreds of miles away, only to arrive and find the place is a dump! Wayward’s traveling nurses have deployed across the US. Based on their feedback, we’ve reviewed the best sites to find a comfortable, practical home for your next assignment.

1. The Traveling Nurse Specialist: Furnished Finder

Furnished Finder is THE site for Travel Nurses. It’s designed to cater to your exact requirements and to enable owners who would like to let their properties to you to advertise. It couldn’t be more tailored. There’s even a Travel Nurse Stipend Calculator on the home page.

A feature to love is that all the listings show the distance to local hospitals in a panel – invaluable time-saver.

Furnished Finder have private and shared accommodation listings right across the USA. You can also register a request and they will mail it out to all the owners that match your requirements free of charge.

Definitely a first-stop site to find your place to stay for any assignment.

2. The Market Leader: AirBnB

With its huge searchable selection of properties in all price ranges and easy-to-use app and website, AirBnB is generally the first stop for anyone looking for temporary accommodation for work or vacation.

For travel nurses, the stand-out feature is that AirBnB properties often have long-stay discounts. Choose the Entire Place search option to find private accommodation, and read reviews carefully. Another good tip is to have a look at the general area of the property on Google Maps Streetview – have a “walk” around and judge for yourself. You may want to ask the owner some specific questions. You’ll be working shifts and must know that you’ll be able to get some quality sleep when you need it.

AirBnB is safe and reliable. For best results, see if you can find something in your range which has the “Plus” label on the listing. This means that the property has been reviewed by someone from AirBnB in person so that you can rely on its quality and cleanliness.

Watch out for additional fees and make sure that house rules suit you.

Pro Tip: When you leave a rental, be sure to go to the site and leave a review. Property owners can see these reviews when they are deciding to accept your bid for a future trip, so good accurate reviews of previous lets are obviously going to add to your credibility and reputation as a good tenant.

3. Well-established and safe, with lots of options: Vrbo

VRBO has been connecting travelers and property owners since 1995. It has a huge selection that easily rivals AirBnB and many find that the search filtering offers a more fine-grained route to finding just the right place. For instance, if you are traveling with a pet, you will be able to pull up results only for properties that are OK with your furry friend.

Owner registration is rigorous and it’s very easy to see what kind of experience others have had in a place you are looking at. VRBO’s customer service runs 24/7 which is reassuring. They are a well set-up and long-established company who do things professionally.

As with all online accommodation rental portals, read everything carefully and make sure you fully understand terms & conditions and any additional fees that you might incur on top of the advertised rent. It’s always a good idea to drop the owner a line with any questions.

What to avoid:

  • Local Facebook groups can be useful for getting the lie of the land in the area you are heading for, but avoid offers of accommodation there.  You might find that rents are cheaper but it’s very difficult to evaluate a property or the landlord/lady. You need to be able to arrive and settle in to a place that fully meets your needs, not have to deal with all kinds of hassles – or difficult personalities.
  • We do not recommend Craigslist at all. It’s a completely unregulated site and stories of unsatisfactory and even downright dangerous situations that have arisen through rentals on that site are legion. Consider your safety above all.

 

Arrange a chat with a Wayward recruiter

We’ll help you to create a personal plan for success as a travel nurse, and make sure you know exactly what you can expect from us and when. Arrange a chat with one of our travel nursing experts to discuss your individual situation today: