We have been renting villas in St Martin, Aruba and even here in Florida for many years, mostly through VRBO, but sometimes through rental agencies.
I cannot remember a single time when we did not have to sign a lease. This summer we rented a 3 story beach house on Pompano Beach, Fl for a family vacation (https://www.vrbo.com/4722381ha?arri...31&childrenCount=4&adultsCount=6)
It was only for seven nights, but we had to sign a lease AND send them a $5000 cashiers check 10 days before arrival as a security deposit.

A few weeks later we rented a resident's unit at the Setai Hotel on South Beach to celebrate our anniversary. Contract + $1500 security deposit was required.

We recently signed another lease for our St Martin vacation next May. We will be staying here:
https://www.skyluxuryrentals.com/vacation-rental-home.asp?PageDataID=72339
For this one, we had a choice of purchasing damage insurance at a cost of $49/night, or giving them a $1500 security deposit.