Ask the rental agency (or owner) what housekeeping services will be provided and when, as well as what essentials you should bring.

FORBES: Playing the Float

Although the rental agency might have a daytime reception desk and an emergency phone number, there's no houseboat concierge to get you tickets to the Concertgebouw.

FORBES: Playing the Float

Boats rent for periods of one night to several months, depending on the owner and the rental agency, but a minimum of three to four nights is customary.

FORBES: Playing the Float

This week, Hertz became the first car rental agency in Australia to begin renting mobile hotspots to its customers, having recently introduced the concept to selected locations in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Canary Islands.

BBC: Rentable wi-fi for overseas travel

So instead of trying to hide the fact that Avis was the also-ran rental car agency, the ad men asked: why not turn its No. 2 position into an asset?

FORBES: China: It Was Better Being No. 2

He was ugly, a nondescript wastebasket-on-wheels that would have fit right in at a dingy rental-car agency.

WSJ: Paper Shredders: Finding Shredded Bliss

And the plight of 20 million homeowners holding mortgages greater than the value of their real estate needs a major fix in mortgage debt service, even placing many of these homes on a rental basis indefinitely through a federal agency.

FORBES: My Country, Right Or Wrong, My Country!

Del Rio says families like that maybe one-third of those who contact his agency are better off walking away from their homes and moving back to rental properties they can afford.

NPR: Adjustable-Rate Mortgages Fuel Foreclosure Crisis