usvi-on-line
Please take a minute -
The link to Villa Comparison Chart from the bottom of this page http://www.donaldschnell.com/villa-rent ... villa.html is broken.
At the top of that same page I think Photo Gallery, Guest Comments and Rates & Inquiries - if they're supposed to be links - don't work.
Gift Hill Villa photo gallery is still under construction?
I'd also suggest floor plans and reference to whether the villas are child-friendly or not.
At the top of that same page I think Photo Gallery, Guest Comments and Rates & Inquiries - if they're supposed to be links - don't work.
Gift Hill Villa photo gallery is still under construction?
I'd also suggest floor plans and reference to whether the villas are child-friendly or not.
Jennifer
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AquaLassie
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2006 6:17 pm
- Location: Alabama
I've had their website bookmarked since the late 90's, so I know this redesign was a long time coming! The new site is excellent, especially the villa photo galleries ... brought back fond memories of staying at Little Whim .
Perhaps you could consider making their vehicle rentals more obvious to the villa shopper. We rent ours from them some. The Schnells are excellent to work with.
Again, excellent work!
-AquaLassie
Perhaps you could consider making their vehicle rentals more obvious to the villa shopper. We rent ours from them some. The Schnells are excellent to work with.
Again, excellent work!
-AquaLassie
It's about time Artistic Villas designed a new website! I love Beach Villa And Beach Estate. However, it is rather irritating that they do not have rates for these 2 places. Even the most expensive villas on the island list their rates. I think readers may by-pass these villas for that reason! wonder why? do the rates change depending on ?????
Definitely need a "home" button.
Try a tad more drop shadowing at the flowers at the top-- they look little flat against the really cool texture of the menu bar on left.
The font for the quotes is a bit too hard to read. Consider another hand style font but with less lean to it. Or flip the fonts and have the quote in the block text and the name in itals.
Totally agree with others about the availability calendar and on the pricing issue. You never want to provide any deterrent to a potential renter from getting the info they need. Even though I personally can probably afford whatever the price is, I would make 2 assumptions:
1) they are super picky about who rents the place and therefore if I rented the place I would be constantly worried about breaking something and not be able to relax; or
2) they are pretentious and are deciding on a case by case basis how much they can get for it - so I'm either getting a good deal or screwed. Not saying that that's their logic but I would bet that I'm not the only one who would get that impression.
My attitude is if you've got the place for rent put the info out there. If I'm trying to look for a place I don't want to do extra work to see if it's going to fit into my budget or wait for an e-mail back no matter how fast they are. An extra step for their customer can be the difference between renting that property or not.
The villa maps are great. It would be nice on the graphic image map if you could click on the star and have the photo of that villa come up. Just for ease of navigation.
Otherwise, love the overall look and feel of the site. Nice work!
Try a tad more drop shadowing at the flowers at the top-- they look little flat against the really cool texture of the menu bar on left.
The font for the quotes is a bit too hard to read. Consider another hand style font but with less lean to it. Or flip the fonts and have the quote in the block text and the name in itals.
Totally agree with others about the availability calendar and on the pricing issue. You never want to provide any deterrent to a potential renter from getting the info they need. Even though I personally can probably afford whatever the price is, I would make 2 assumptions:
1) they are super picky about who rents the place and therefore if I rented the place I would be constantly worried about breaking something and not be able to relax; or
2) they are pretentious and are deciding on a case by case basis how much they can get for it - so I'm either getting a good deal or screwed. Not saying that that's their logic but I would bet that I'm not the only one who would get that impression.
My attitude is if you've got the place for rent put the info out there. If I'm trying to look for a place I don't want to do extra work to see if it's going to fit into my budget or wait for an e-mail back no matter how fast they are. An extra step for their customer can be the difference between renting that property or not.
The villa maps are great. It would be nice on the graphic image map if you could click on the star and have the photo of that villa come up. Just for ease of navigation.
Otherwise, love the overall look and feel of the site. Nice work!
*Another fine scatterbrained production
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hawksnestbay
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- Posts: 123
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:22 pm
- Location: America's Hometown
How about an "interactive" location map, with a link directly back and forth.
And they are very, very good to deal with regarding vehicle rentals, so anything highlighting that link would be important.
Maybe, a little to much text in the villa descriptions. Most attention spans are....
What was I talking about?
I do think the home page is real good.
And they are very, very good to deal with regarding vehicle rentals, so anything highlighting that link would be important.
Maybe, a little to much text in the villa descriptions. Most attention spans are....
What was I talking about?
I do think the home page is real good.
Yes - that is the wrong page - something broken there on our end. This is the correct page: http://donaldschnell.com/villa-rentals/ ... villa.htmlChickadee wrote:At the top of that same page I think Photo Gallery, Guest Comments and Rates & Inquiries - if they're supposed to be links - don't work.
Does that work for you?
Anthony for Virgin Islands On Line
Yes - but, better to answer all potential questions, and you don't have to read it - you can just look at the pretty pictures!hawksnestbay wrote:Maybe, a little to much text in the villa descriptions. Most attention spans are....
What was I talking about?
Plus - the search engines love the text.
Anthony for Virgin Islands On Line
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chicagoans
- Posts: 1586
- Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:51 pm
- Location: IL
It's a beautiful site; nice job! In addition to the great feedback above...
I love sites that include floor plans for villas. That way people can tell if the layout will work for their group. (Privacy for couples vs. togetherness for families.)
I also like favicons. They make things in my bookmark and history lists stand out, like the little yellow sun I always look for for VIOL!
I love sites that include floor plans for villas. That way people can tell if the layout will work for their group. (Privacy for couples vs. togetherness for families.)
I also like favicons. They make things in my bookmark and history lists stand out, like the little yellow sun I always look for for VIOL!
Yep, Anthony, the links work from the page you posted!Anthony wrote:Yes - that is the wrong page - something broken there on our end. This is the correct page: http://donaldschnell.com/villa-rentals/ ... villa.htmlChickadee wrote:At the top of that same page I think Photo Gallery, Guest Comments and Rates & Inquiries - if they're supposed to be links - don't work.
Does that work for you?
Jennifer
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Eric on St John
- Posts: 104
- Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2006 2:12 pm
- Location: St. John, VI
Thanks for everyone's help with usability and catching some broken links and all the input.
Just to fill you in, we have not done the rates for Beach Villa & Beach Estate because we are trying to develop shoulder seasons. Years ago we always had them but as we added villas it just became a confusing maze of dates & rates. Now we are trying to go back to that but without over-complicating things.
We are looking at doing one shoulder post-Easter in April and into a bit of May. These would be somewhere between the Winter & Summer rates.
Another would be for end of August, Sept & Oct and would be Fall rates & lower than Summer.
The base rate on those is usually for 6 people. Part of shoulder rates would be just making available pro-rated rates for 2 & 4 guests.
Floor plans are a whole different ball game. They are ALOT easier for people who have just built a place to provide as they just replicate the architects plans and pay them a chunk of $ to do it. Our villas are usually ones we have remodeled and added bedrooms & pools onto so we don't have complete plans to work off of. We are working on it but its difficult to get anyone to do. We do have some old floor plans we are trying to amend and make usable, but we'd rather have nothing than something that is wrong & outdated. Hopefully in the coming month or two those will start to appear.
Thanks Again!
We'll look forward to your continued comments!
Just to fill you in, we have not done the rates for Beach Villa & Beach Estate because we are trying to develop shoulder seasons. Years ago we always had them but as we added villas it just became a confusing maze of dates & rates. Now we are trying to go back to that but without over-complicating things.
We are looking at doing one shoulder post-Easter in April and into a bit of May. These would be somewhere between the Winter & Summer rates.
Another would be for end of August, Sept & Oct and would be Fall rates & lower than Summer.
The base rate on those is usually for 6 people. Part of shoulder rates would be just making available pro-rated rates for 2 & 4 guests.
Floor plans are a whole different ball game. They are ALOT easier for people who have just built a place to provide as they just replicate the architects plans and pay them a chunk of $ to do it. Our villas are usually ones we have remodeled and added bedrooms & pools onto so we don't have complete plans to work off of. We are working on it but its difficult to get anyone to do. We do have some old floor plans we are trying to amend and make usable, but we'd rather have nothing than something that is wrong & outdated. Hopefully in the coming month or two those will start to appear.
Thanks Again!
We'll look forward to your continued comments!
Eric on St John