USVI-On-Line

I have been trying to confirm my villa rental but I can not seem to contact the property manager (via phone calls, emails). Its been 3 days and I need to firm up related reservations asap. Am I just being impatient or is this just the way things work in the rental business?

I'd give it a few more days.

Over the years depending on the villa co. I seem to recall getting an e-mail confirmation right away, followed by a rental contract within about 10 days or so.

Not sure who you're working with now but if thru a private owner it may take a bit longer.

I should add that this is not with an owner and I did get an email 3 days ago saying they would call me that day. He never did, and that was my last contact.

All depends how far off your trip is. If 9 months out, I woudln't sweat it. If it were 90 days out, I would want an answer quick before airfares changed.

Its more like 45 days.

The rental business is not that great on St. John this year as a whole. You should recieve a confirmation the same day or the next. If you want a rental confirmation today for Monkey No Climb please go to my website. I don't know about the company you are sort of dealing with, but I would like to take care of you and your party.

What agency are you dealing with? From my experience, if it's a off-island agency it can take longer. I've made it a practice to not use off-island agencies since I've had a couple of not-so-good experiences with a couple of them. Why don't you call and find out what's going on?

Only 45 days out and no confirmation, I would be frantic!! Especially if I hadn't heard in 3 days. You say they sent an email saying they would call - but that's not really much of a confirmation. Is it paid? Did you get confirmation of payment?? Is there another contact name/phone number???

I am using (or trying to use) Great Cartibbean Getaways. I have called them many times now. I assume they are local because they have a 340 number (besides their 1-800 number). I have been calling the 1-800 number, but only get voicemail. Yesterday I called the 340 number and did get a man to answer, saying that he knew the company owner was 'away' and would call him and tell him to contact me. Of, course...no answer. This is frustrating.

I am not familair with those folks. We have rented form ViVa (who we lOVE!) and Caribbean Villas in the past.

But if that's the case, and they don't have any of your money I would honestly move on to someplace else -- and I say that mainly cause you are so close to your travel dates-- otherwise I would say don't sweat it.

Even in high season with the economy so bad I'm betting there will be plenty of options out there-- sounds like you have at least one offer!

To answer your question lazyjane, I have not paid anything. Thats what I am trying to do now...give my Visa number over the phone, but he wont call back. And you are right...thats not much of a confirmation.

palmsandsun wrote:I am using (or trying to use) Great Cartibbean Getaways. I have called them many times now. I assume they are local because they have a 340 number (besides their 1-800 number). I have been calling the 1-800 number, but only get voicemail. Yesterday I called the 340 number and did get a man to answer, saying that he knew the company owner was 'away' and would call him and tell him to contact me. Of, course...no answer. This is frustrating.

Wow - I can understand your frustration and I'm sure the villa owner would be really upset at the potential of losing a week of revenue! This doesn't bode well if you did rent from them and had a problem -- like the water heater breaks and you can't get a return call. I know it's tough when you find a villa you really want to try, but it sounds like it's time to look elsewhere.

Have you done a search to see if the villa is managed by another agency as well? If so, I'd ditch this one and rent it from someone else.

There's island time, and then there's incompetence, and it sounds like they've crossed over into that zone!

Thanks everyone one for your advice. You confirmed what I was thinking.

Just an update to those who were kind enough to respond to my post....I finally heard from the company who apologized for the delay in getting back. They were very nice and we finalized the transaction. Hopefully things will go better from here on. I will post a review of the villa when we get back.