Accommodations

You might try Airbnb; specify on your search that you want an entire home, rather than just a room. Look for a prospective rental with many good reviews.

VRBO is one you may want to check out. You could also contact the local Tourist Information offices for the towns you are planning to stay in to see if they can suggest a rental agent who deals with self-catering vacation home rentals.

Seems like this isn't a real common way to go otherwise there would be several ways to go with this. We came from this approach because we wanted to stay at least 4 nights in each region and save our stomachs and money by shopping locally and cooking ourselves. Rick Steves seems to only be plugging B and Bs and I can't imagine this being the best way to go if you are staying several nights and you are forced to eat out for lunch and dinner.
Am I missing something?
How do you contact local tourist information centers?
Sorry if I seem a little slow with this, we are just going to be going during peek season and would love to get all of our accomadations locked in and paid for with some guarantees.

From what I can see the Holiday Lettings LTD., UK seems to be the easiest, appears to be a Travelosity Company, and pays with Pay Pal. But with out getting expert advice I am just guessing.

If you guys stay several nights in one location what do you do? Motel, B and B, or what?

Thanks for all the help, we are staying for close to a month and want to have our accomadations guaranteed to be there when we get there.

I just returned from Western Ireland and home based in Galway for 5 nights and stayed at the lovely Petra House B&B with an amazing breakfast that keeps you full for many hours and then I go to the local grocery and farmers markets for lunch and healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables. It's amazing the little picnics that are so affordable. And you can do a dinner out and split it but airplane I found was quite affordable with a high quality B&B.
I then stayed in Dingle at the Pax house for 5 nights and the same highest quality breakfasts and such quaint pubs, grocery and the very best Friday Farmers Market. I had the best lamb burger for 5euro that day with beautiful organic greens I bought.

If I was in one location for a month, I would look into renting an apartment like you are referring.

I always email my B&Bs or small hotels and see how they can help me as I am gluten free and sometimes, I get a little refrigerator in my room but not often.

I also talk with the TI office and Dingle has the very best one but Galway was good as well.

Send me a private message if I can help further so your dollar goes farther for you.

Enjoy.

Thanks for all the great replies, it is very helpful. I am at the moment trying to learn what exactly AirB and B is and how it works. It looks like the one site that works directly with property owners. I have heard of Air B and B for several years but don't have a clue about how it works and if it's secure.
Maybe if some one has used it you can give me some insight. The web site seems to be pretty tight lipped about who they are and how it works.
Thanks again for all the help.

We spent three weeks in southern and western Ireland last September and had wonderful luck with Airbnb. We wanted to do multiple three and four night stays so we could base ourselves in several different areas, and we also wanted a whole house or apartment to ourselves so we could do some cooking and hang out and relax in the evening. There are many, many listings available on the Airbnb site and you can easily narrow your search to include the things most important to you--number of bedrooms, wifi availability, TV, laundry facilities--the list goes on and on. Once you have some likely prospects you can read the reviews and decide if it sounds like a good option. We stayed in 4 different properties (Baltimore, Cahersiveen, Furbogh and Westport) and all were just fine, exactly as advertised. In fact the places in Cahersiveen and Furbogh were outstanding--we would have been happy to settle down there for months! We also stayed in a couple of regular B&Bs which were also lovely (agree with Kathy about Petra House) for a change of pace (and a fancier breakfast).

Jim, 4 nights is right about the cusp between going with a hotel/b&b and an apartment. Rick covers what he feels is important for a first time visitor. Most of his recommendations will be focused towards those that are only spending between 2 and 5 nights max in any one place. However, doing the self catering thing is a popular trend right now and unfortunately not one that research a ton. You have two good resources though: www.airbnb.com and www.vrbo.com. Between those two you should be able to find what you are looking for. I hope this helps some.

Thanks everyone for the help, I have gotten signed into Airbnb and with all of the verifications it seems like a pretty good way to go. We will probably be staying at some BnBs but since this our second trip to Ireland we really want to slow down and enjoy the areas and the people.

This has been very educational.
One other note, since we are going in June what would everyone recommend is a good time frame to start booking accomadations?

Thanks again.
Jim

One more question about Airbnb, I see that the accomadations have a couple of different policies about cancellations and I can live with that, but it also says the Airbnb fee is non refundable. I understand that's how they make money so I was just curious about how much their reservation fee was for each reservation.
Thanks Jim

AirBnb is a great way to find your accommodations.. I use them all the time when I travel.

My rule of thumb is this:

There is a picture of the owner, not their pet, or some icon ( like Big Ben), that there are 10 plus positive reviews, that given the time difference they respond within 12 hours, that when we engage in emails they will provide an exact address so I can use the GOOGLE map satellite and street view options to see the neighborhood and the route to get there. And, on occasion that they will pick me up at a train depot or provide detailed walking or public transport instructions.

I've reserved rooms and entire flats.

I've yet to have an unpleasant experience and many of my hosts are now counted on as friends.

The Irish are very hospitable. Very helpful and generously kind.

Have a wonderful visit!

The Airbnb fee is a sliding percentage of the total cost of your booking, usually 6-12% depending on the amount you are spending (ie the more you spend, the lower the percentage). You will be able to see the amount of the fee before you confirm your reservation so you have the option of changing your mind if it seems too high. You get the service fee back if the host is the one who cancels. I looked back at our receipts and the fees ranged from a low of $23 for 3 nights in Baltimore to a high of $48 for 4 nights in Cahersiveen.