USVI-On-Line

Hi,
I have been pondering this ?? for awhile & thought I would ask the experts.
We will be on Island the end of April for our second time & are bringing another couple with us.
We have booked thru St John Proporties & have a fairly good idea of where the villa is, but not 100%.

I asked if we would be met at the ferry by a villa rep to show us to the villa. The rental manager, didn't say yes or no, just sent us a map of where the villa is located & that all the taxi's would know where it is.

Does this not seem a little odd????

Last time we booked thru Don Schnell & we were met at the ferry & as we didn't rent a car they drove us to there office to complete paper work, then to the villa.

Thought's????
Thanks The Shopper

Never booked thru them but have always been met and taken to the villa even if it's one we have been to before unless we asked to be met at the villa it's self how are you suppose to get the key's

Our first trip to STJ we were not met by a villa rep - we had to find the place ourselves. They left the door unlocked with the keys on the counter.

Waterguy,
they gave us a code for the door that holds a key to get in

We’ve always been met at the dock and then followed the villa agent to the villa.

Hi:

I have been visiting the Island for the last 7 years. I have never had to find a condo myself. I have always been met at the Ferry Dock, driven to the rental car agency, and then taken to our condo. He/She always took us in, gave us our key, and showed us around. Even after staying at the same condo for several years and telling them we didn't need anyone to show us to our condo they insisted on it. If you would like a reference on someone else to book through try:

Charming Hideaways of St. John
Jane Bartko, Manager
3050 N. Palm Aire Drive #402
Pompano Beach, FL 33069
Phone - 954-979-1947
http://www.acharminghideaway.com/
Email - charming52@comcast.net


Jane is awesome and has taken care of me for many years now. I wouldn't use anyone else!

Have a great trip and by the way...When are you visiting??? I will be on St. John from April 21st to April 28th!

Michele

IMHO-- they should meet you at the dock and show you where you're going. Every rental co I have ever rented from has doen this and I have never heard anyone indicate otherwise on this forum or anywhere else.

It seems to me that they do this for a few reasons:
1) to make sure you are who you say you in terms of group size (e.g. you didn't pay for two and bring ten).
2) The road signage on island is notoriously awful and you can quickly feel like a mouse in a maze once you get off the main roads.
3) You have to hand off the safety deposit check.
4) It's the courteous thing to do.

It's one thing if you rent direct from an owner who is not on island, but that's what these rental co's are for.

bugblu98,
We will be arriving April 27, just befor you leave.
We will be at Woody;s on the 27 for Happy Hour

I do feel it is a little strange.

I don't want to seem like I am picking fault but the original person that we dealt with is no longer there...HM wonder why.

I think I may email this new person & broach the subject again...
The Shopper 3

They should either meet you at the dock or at their office. Last time we were there we stayed at Maho for a couple of days before moving to our house. In that case, Destination St John just asked us to meet them at their office. Then they led us up to the house.

They were super nice about letting us go ahead and leave our stuff there while the cleaning folks were there getting it ready for us. Even told us we could feel free to use the pool, etc. until the house was ready. This was VERY helpful when moving from one loctiaon to another with a little one.

Shopper:

I will make sure I am at Woody's on the 27th for Happy Hour! My name is Michele & my husbands is Ed. We will be the 30'something people from PA that are crying in our drinks beacuase we're going home the next day;) Seriously, just look at the feet.... I have a big star tatoo on my foot. It's a dead give-a-way. Hope to see you then!

Hey BugBlu98,
Will definateley look for you's.
We will be 4- 50 somethings with an ear to ear grin, since it is our first day. One of the males in our group should have a t-shirt with "Woody" on it as his name is "Woody"
The Shopper3

Hi Shopper,

We rented from St John Properties a few years ago and YES they did meet us at the ferry dock, took us to get our jeep and then we followed them to the villa.

My friends (newbies) are on the island now. They rented from Cloud 9 and received a map with directions to their car rental and a map w/directions to the villa. They were instructed to call once their plane lands and that a rep would meet them at the villa. I have never heard of this before!

I felt bad that someone new and unfamiliar with the island would be left to find their own way.
I hope they found everything alright.

We have rented from St. John Properties on three or four separate occasions. They have always met us at the ferry dock and led us to the property. I would call again or email them. BJ Harris is the owner of St. John Properties and we have personally dealt with her with great success.

Tracy

I would like to think that this would be part of there service, considering the price you pay for some of the rentals.
Our last time we were instructed to call the villa company from the airport which we did & were met at the dock.
I think I will send an email to the rental company & just clarify this.

Will let you's all know the outcome.

We did it a little different this year. In that we knew where the villa was (we rented through CV) we called the greeter and asked not to be met at the dock. She instead hid the keys at the villa and stopped by later to get an imprint of our CC for security deposit and answer and questions.

This enabled us to pick up the jeep, stop my Mixology (actually across the street from Penn's so just walked, picked up BBQ from Uncle Joe's then to Starfish some essentials. While we could have done all this with the villa rep around we would have felt the time pressure. We were able to take this hour and get a lot done, prior to going to villa which was towards the Coral Bay side of the island.