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Has anybody ever used this to rent a villa or condo. At some point over the next year I want to take a trip and it will include my 3 college kids and two of their serious gf's so it will be 7. This seems like the most economical way to do it. I'm wondering though about the risk factor. Also the college kids might not be able to use a rental car so we'd have to be somewhere close to a beach and central enough that they can take cabs to do some night stuff. We have been considering St. Croix. I want to keep cost low as I"ll cover the villa but they'll have to pay for their own entertainment and they're poor college kids.
If you stay in a villa how difficult is it to stock up so you can do some of your own meals? We like to do alot of seafood and local produce.

Check out the forums for the USVI and BVI in the traveltalkonline link attached. They are extremely helpful and I have read several threads on grocers that will stock villas, boats, etc in time for your arrival (you can also call an order in and pick it up). They can probably point you in the most economic direction as well for villas. The people on the thread are very knowledgeable and passionate. http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

I have normal friends who list their condo in Palm Springs on VBRO and say the get pretty normal people as renters.
Remember that the owners want the renters to not be sketchy either!
We are looking at a VBRO in Mexico for next year, and would use them.

See if you can get any 'hints' in the listing about a name of the villa, then google it- you might see it listed on other sites or find the villa's own website with more photos & info.

Don't be overly concerned if you don't get a immediate reply from any e-mails you send- people could be out working or whatever.

We have done the self-catering villa in Italy, France & Spain, all with great success. Look really hard at the photos, and count and re-count the bed and bath configurations. "Sleeps 12" is totally different from "6 Bedrooms with queen size beds"! Bathroom and en-suite bathroom are also different! Learn the lingo.

Have fun!!

It is always a scary thing to rent these places without seeing them first- they are expensive and this is your vacation! But

My parents have a condo they always stay in on Hawaii that they found on VRBO- they love it, and the landlord is great.

On the other hand, when we were trying to plan a beach wedding in Florida, we had nothing but misleading listings and people that were difficult to deal with.

It's completely hit or miss.

If you find a villa you are interested in put up a posting on TTOL and you will get real honest feedback on it.

We have rented many times through VRBO. We have never had a bad experience. I always get a phone number and call with questions. I think by talking to them you can get an idea of what kind of person you will be dealing with and vise versa.

Summerlover wrote:We have rented many times through VRBO. We have never had a bad experience. I always get a phone number and call with questions. I think by talking to them you can get an idea of what kind of person you will be dealing with and vise versa.

Good suggestion to call and establish a telephone relationship!

Is it generally necessary to book a year out? We were looking at this winter and I would say if it's a nice place it's booked.

OceanCityGirl wrote:Is it generally necessary to book a year out? We were looking at this winter and I would say if it's a nice place it's booked.

We always book at least 6-9 months in advance. I am looking for June 2009 now and hope to have it booked by September/October at the latest.
If you are looking for Christmas week or another really popular week, you can expect increased prices and decreased availability at this point.


And not a plug for insurance, but you can get 'Trip Insurance' for villa vacations, check over on www.insuremytrip.com for some tips and decide what is best for you- look very carefully at any cancellation policies for anywhere you are thinking of booking and factor that into your final decision. I have only used insurance once- and that was for a cruise. I would do it for any trip in hurricane season to the caribbean though.

Do you like going in June? I'm finishing up my teaching degree and need to book around a teacher's schedule which means holidays or summer.

Yeah, we have a couple of folks in our travel group who are on an academic schedule so we try to follow that a little bit. We usually go in Mid-January, September or May/June depending on when assorted universities are out for some of our group and when our work schedules allow. We prefer 'shoulder season' in Europe b/c the airfares are cheaper and it is not as hot/crowded. Next year June will be our first attempt at somewhere beachy when it is hot, but we are on a funny schedule where we try to do a villa vacation approximately every 18 months, and we are trying to avoid Europe until the Euro goes back down. There are 11 of of us and we try to rotate around certain numerically significant birthdays. We still have a few more '40's to celebrate and then we will start all over again with trips for '50's.

Is this something you are looking to do annually? with the kids too? Same destination each year?

Furlin wrote:Is this something you are looking to do annually? with the kids too? Same destination each year?

I might like this but as their life gets more complicated who knows.

VRBO is awesome. We use this and rent from people whenever we go anywhere. Once you find a place, definitely call and talk to them. Also, ask them for a couple of references of people who have stayed there recently. Email or call and get their experience. Good Luck!

After presenting all of the options my group is leaning toward VRBO rather then sailing. Now we need to choose between BVI or USVI.

BVI .. Moorings!

Sounds like you are narrowing it down. Here is another option for affortable and reputible villas http://www.wyndham-vacations.com/main.t ... de=846460A

If you are looking for high end villas I can share some resources there too, just pm.