Renting a 30A house for a bachelorette? Check these seven things first

On most bachelorette trips the house is where you sleep and the town is where you spend the weekend. 30A turns that round. The restaurants are small, rideshare is thin, and the towns are a few minutes apart by car and a long way apart on foot, so the house ends up hosting the arrival dinner, the pool afternoon, the getting-ready and usually breakfast on the last morning.

We see a lot of rental houses from the back, because the back deck or the courtyard is where we set up. These are the seven things we wish every maid of honour had checked before paying the deposit on the house.

A listing that sleeps fourteen does not always seat fourteen. Bunk rooms and sleeper sofas add beds quickly; they do not add chairs. Look through the photos for the outdoor dining table and count the chairs, because a dinner where four people eat standing up is not the dinner anyone planned.

If the house is short, that is fixable. Our table setup is an optional $12 per guest and covers the tables, the chairs, disposable plates and utensils, and the clean-up afterwards. With it the group brings only the drinks. Without it, the table, chairs and plates are the house's, and most 30A houses do have enough outdoor seating for the group they sleep.

If any meal is going to happen at the house with a chef, the house needs about 6 ft by 4 ft of flat, level ground with open sky above it and 3 feet of clear standing room on the chef's side. A rear deck, a pool surround, a courtyard or a driveway all work.

What does not work: anywhere indoors, a garage, a screened porch, under a second-floor overhang, or a courtyard covered by a low pergola. Wooden decks are fine; heat mats go under the grill as standard with a drop cloth around it. How much space a hibachi chef needs goes through the surfaces one by one.

Twelve people arrive in four or five cars, and on some of the prettiest streets on 30A there is nowhere to put them. In Rosemary Beach the lanes are cobbled, narrow and shared with golf carts, and several rentals have street parking only, which in July fills by four in the afternoon.

Ask the manager how many cars the house takes. If anyone is coming to the house to work, whether that is a chef, a photographer or a hair-and-makeup team, keep one space on the drive free for the unload. We arrive 45 minutes before the seating and need exactly that.

Some of the best 30A houses are inside gated communities, and the gate is the one thing that reliably goes wrong on the night. Get the gate code with your confirmation and pass it on to anyone who is coming to the house, rather than texting it at quarter to seven.

Many communities and rental agreements also have rules about outdoor cooking, noise and parking. Read them before you book the house rather than after. We ask about the property on every booking, but the rental agreement is between you and the manager, and they are the one to ask.

Look at what the house is actually near. Seaside, Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach each have a town centre a group can walk to, which makes the Saturday night out much easier. Further from those, the walk becomes a bike ride or a golf cart, and a house a mile from anything is a house the group stays in.

Neither is wrong. A walkable house suits a weekend with a night out; a quieter house with a big deck suits a weekend built around the house. Just know which one you are booking.

Some listings that look like houses are townhomes or condos with shared outdoor space, and that changes what is possible. Condo balconies almost never work for a cooked dinner: they are too narrow, roofed by the balcony above, and many buildings prohibit open flame outright. Complexes often have a reservable poolside pavilion or grilling area instead, but it has to be booked through the front desk, and in season it goes early.

This comes up far more in Destin and Panama City Beach than on 30A, but it is worth a look anywhere.

The arrival night is the hardest meal of a 30A weekend to book, and the one people leave until last. Peak Friday and Saturday dates between March and August go four to six weeks ahead for us, which is roughly when the house deposits are being paid anyway.

A $200 deposit holds the date and comes off the final balance. Guest counts can change up to 72 hours before. At the standard rate a group of 12 comes to about $914 all in, with the 7% sales tax and 20% gratuity included and no travel fee anywhere on 30A. The bachelorette page has the full table by group size.

What should I look for in a 30A bachelorette rental?

Outdoor seating for everyone the house sleeps, a flat open-sky spot of about 6 ft by 4 ft if you want dinner at the house, parking for every car, the gate code and community rules, and a clear idea of what is in walking distance.

Can a hibachi chef cook at any 30A rental house?

Most of them. We need about 6 ft by 4 ft of flat, level ground with open sky above and 3 feet of clear space for the chef. We do not cook indoors, in a garage, under a screened porch or under a low pergola.

What if the house does not have enough chairs?

Add table setup to the booking. It is $12 per guest and covers tables, chairs, disposable plates, utensils and the clean-up afterwards.

When should we book dinner for a 30A bachelorette?

At the same time as the house. Peak Friday and Saturday dates between March and August go four to six weeks ahead.