By Sam Kemmis | NerdWallet

Staying at a beach house with friends can be a lot of fun. Deciding which house to rent via a poorly organized group chat? Not so much.

Using vacation rental platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo for group trips makes sense. In most cases, they’re more affordable than hotels for large groups, according to a 2022 NerdWallet analysis, and they foster group activities like cooking and playing games. So it’s hardly surprising that more than 80% of bookings on Airbnb are for groups, according to data shared by the platform.

Yet these benefits come with trade-offs. There’s the whole shared bathroom issue and the “which-couple-gets-the-much-nicer-bedroom” dilemma. But before check-in, there’s the question of which rental to choose that matches the group’s preferences.

In May, Airbnb added features aimed at making group travel easier to plan, including shared wish lists and group messaging with hosts. These features smooth out some of the logistics of planning a group trip, yet no feature in an app will make herding cats (i.e., your friends and family) easy.

Here are some tips and guidelines to help your group communicate when choosing your next vacation rental.

Set a budget

Determining how much everyone is willing to pay is probably the most fundamental question facing your group. It’s also the one most likely to be skirted. Talking about money can feel uncomfortable or embarrassing, yet failing to do so can lead the group to spend more than everyone is comfortable paying.

Some members of your group might be embarrassed to share their budget, for fear of spoiling the fun or coming across as cheap. So being the first to suggest a low-end budget can actually be a service (and relief) for others.

Zainob Fashola, a travel expert, recently planned a group trip to the Bahamas with friends. Their group quickly landed on a budget.

“We wanted a modern villa close to the beach, at a max of $1,000 per person for five nights, managed by a well-reviewed host or company,” Fashola said in an email.

Determining a budget early can narrow the range of options, smoothing the decision-making process and making sure everyone feels comfortable. Make sure to check “final” prices — not listed prices — when searching for properties, as add-on fees can balloon the final bill.

Assemble your options and take a vote

After you’ve set a budget (and, presumably, a destination), the next step is identifying potential rentals. This is where things can get messy in a hurry. Think group chats with members randomly sharing links. Here are some tips to streamline the process:

Appoint a leader. This doesn’t have to be a formal process. As the one reading this, you’re likely a good candidate.
Create a list. You can use one of Airbnb’s new shared wish lists or create a spreadsheet. Make sure everyone can see and edit the list, wherever it lives.
Keep an eye on location. It can be easy to get lost in the pretty pictures of the rental itself and forget the importance of its location. You might want to decide on a neighborhood ahead of time, to further winnow the options and avoid choosing a rental in the hinterlands.
Double-check the bedroom situation. Many rentals say they can accommodate large groups, but what they really mean is that there are a bunch of air mattresses in the living room. Make sure each option has enough bedrooms for your group.

Some group members will likely have strong preferences, while others couldn’t care less as long as they have a bed. It’s important to get as much of the group’s input as possible, but don’t wait for everybody’s input.

“When we decide on a destination, the more vocal members, usually those familiar with the area, have specific requests regarding neighborhood, views, and house style,” said Fashola.

Once the top choices have been determined, settle it with a vote. This can be as informal as an emoji-based system in a group chat or a secret ballot survey.

“That trip was last minute, so we skipped the Google Sheet, listed four available options in the chat, voted in minutes, and booked the villa immediately,” Fashola explained.

Herd those cats

Group decision-making is always an exercise in patience and communication, and deciding on the perfect vacation rental poses its own challenges. Since it involves money and budgets, it can strike nerves for some or leave others bitter they’re overpaying. And the stakes are high to make sure the rental itself doesn’t get in the way of a successful trip.

Airbnb has launched some features that help with organizing the task itself, yet the real struggle comes from competing personalities, preferences and communication styles.

For Fashola, finding the perfect rental for her Bahamas trip proved relatively easy, but splitting the restaurant bill is still proving trickier. After letting one member choose the restaurant itinerary on a recent trip to Greece, the group was shocked at the final price tag.

“Now, we always check menu prices before trusting her suggestions.”

Sam Kemmis writes for NerdWallet. Email: skemmis@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @samsambutdif.

The article How to Choose a Short-Term Vacation Rental With a Group originally appeared on NerdWallet.

Writing recently at Dazed magazine online, Georgina Elliott asked “Why don’t straight men read novels?”

I am a straight man, middle-aged to boot, who does read novels, lots of them, so I found the question somewhat alienating, but at the same time, not surprising. It’s not news to me that women buy the vast majority of books in the U.S. — somewhere around 80% of the total — so I was aware that men flat out don’t read as many books as women.

But I hadn’t considered that it was a problem of novels specifically that men aren’t reading.

If we’re talking about the kinds of novels that we broadly call “literary,” the truth is that very few people read these books, period. Writing in Granta, literary critic Christian Lorentzen relates that an editor at an independent publisher estimated that there are approximately 20,000 people in the country who read literary fiction. If only 20,000 people are reading literary fiction, and 80% of them are women, that means only 4,000 men are reading those books nationwide.

If that number is accurate, I feel like I know a disproportionate number of them, but that would probably be the case given the crowds I run with, including here, where men are sending me their list of five recent reads, most of which contain novels, all the time.

At Dazed, Elliott explores various theories as to why men aren’t reading novels, including that men are not socialized to read as much as women, lacking reading role models in other men. Elliott also shares a theory that men don’t read novels because they have internalized an ethos that they are expected to be “productive” agents acting in the world, rather than passively experiencing the lives of others through fiction. Men are more likely to read self-help than fiction, seeing that genre as more likely to pay off in “meaningful returns,” according to Alistair Brown, a literature professor at Durham University who studies these patterns.

If these theories are true, I find myself mostly feeling sad for my fellow straight white males because there is more to life than being “productive,” at least I hope so, because if that’s not the case, I’m wasting a lot of time reading novels.

I read novels primarily because doing so is an enjoyable way to spend my time. I first experienced this as a child and have had this reconfirmed on a nearly daily basis since. As a kid, I was sometimes called “lazy” because I’d rather read a book than mow the lawn or do homework, but this choice always felt more sensible than lazy to me.

Still does.

But suppose we want to talk about the benefits of reading novels beyond their inherent pleasure. In that case, I can testify that one of the great things about reading fiction is that you are exposed to the incredible variety of the human experience, not as a way to find a model for your own path, but as a demonstration that you should feel free to not worry overmuch about what others think of the path you wish to travel.

Novels are not instructive, like self-help, but they are illustrative, and if you keep reading them, you’ll have a better understanding that there is no one way to live. Looking for answers to how to live a happy life in a self-help book is ultimately fruitless when those answers are invariably going to be found within oneself.

Rather than worrying about being productive, what if we try to be quiet and reflective?

No better way to achieve that than by immersing yourself in the lives of others by reading a novel.

John Warner is the author of “Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.”

Twitter @biblioracle

Book recommendations from the Biblioracle

John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.

1. “The Winner” by Teddy Wayne2. “Muse of Fire: World War I as Seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets” by Michael Korda3. “Cowboy Graves” by Roberto Bolaño4. “The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War” by Erik Larson5. “Don’t Skip Out on Me” by Willy Vlautin

— Joe F., Channahon

For Joe, I’m recommending a novel rooted in both history and literature, “March” by Geraldine Brooks.

1. “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles2. “Pineapple Street” by Jenny Jackson3. “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt4. “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson5. “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson

— Viola P., Chicago

Viola is going to be the recipient of my periodic public service of recommending the most perfectly constructed novel ever, “Mrs. Bridge” by Evan S. Connell.

1. “The Winner” by Teddy Wayne2. “Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance” by Alison Espach3. “James” by Percival Everett4. “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver5. “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin

— Abby T., Wilmette

“Wayward” by Dana Spiotta, published in 2021, was ahead of its time in its exploration of a woman driven mad by the world she’s made to live in, finding an escape in a broken-down house that becomes just hers.

Gretchen McKay | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

One of the best parts of a weekend getaway at the beach is in the “away” part — with sand and sea between your toes.

Not so fun is having to actually pull on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt to go and get something to eat with that first cup of java from your vacation rental’s Keurig coffee maker.

Which is why when I head out of town for the weekend, I pack something that is both super easy to make the night before we head out of town and travels well for breakfast the next morning.

Prepackaged cereal bars or a box of Cheerios would hit the spot, of course, but doesn’t a slice of homemade coffee cake with ribbons of cinnamon streusel sound better to kick off a lazy first day of vacation?

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This seasonal recipe featuring plump and juicy blueberries and a crumbly, streusel topping only takes about an hour start to finish, and is packed with flavor. It’s enriched with both butter and sour cream, giving rise to a super-tender crumb that’s a perfect counterpoint to the crunchy brown sugar crumb on top.

It’s always a good idea to pick any remaining stems off the berries after swishing them around in a bowl of cold water to wash off any dirt or pesticides (they’re tough). You will want to pick out any green or reddish berries too —they’re not ripe.

I used full-fat sour cream, but light sour cream works, too. If you’re not wild about cinnamon, feel free to adjust it according to taste or omit it all together.

Coffee cake can be stored at room temperature for two or three days, or up to a week in the fridge either in a covered container or wrapped in plastic wrap.

Blueberry coffee cake is the perfect seasonal breakfast for a summer morning. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

Blueberry Crumble Coffee Cake

PG tested

For streusel topping

6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2 -inch chunks

For the cake

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Zest and juice from 1 1/2 lemon
2/3 cup full-fat sour cream
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Generous pinch of kosher salt
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (about 1 8-ounce container)
Confectioners’ sugar, optional, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch round baking pan. (I used a springform pan.)

Prepare streusel: Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. Add flour, then cut the butter in using a pastry blender or crisscrossing two knives, until crumbly. (I finish with my fingers.) Set aside while you prepare the bake batter.

Prepare cake: Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4-5 minutes, or until light and creamy.

Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time until combined. Add vanilla, lemon zest and juice and sour cream. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter and mix until just combined. Using a spatula, gently fold in the blueberries, making sure batter is completely mixed.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and evenly spread it out with the back of a spoon. Use your fingers to crumble the topping evenly over the batter.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before serving. If desired, sprinkle the top with a little confectioners’ sugar.

— adapted from barefootcontessa.com

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.