Amazingly Brazen

seagrape · Post by **seagrape** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:38 pm

Wow! As a villa owner, we give our guests the benefit of the doubt. We don't even think twice. Not even for one minute. We built our home to share, and that is what we are thankful for. However, after hearing about our friends' story, we feel so disappointed. We have NEVER had a problem and we appreciate our guests and their honesty!

Our friends own a gorgeous house (3 BR). A couple recently staying there had booked it, as only one couple. What is amazing is that they had THREE couples staying there (they sneaked in TWO additional couples!). Luckily, they got caught. What thieves! Incredibly dishonest people. They tried to get two extra couples into the house at no cost. Don't these people realize the cost to the owners, like electricity, water, cleaning, etc.? It's not a flophouse, it's an incredible villa in an amazing location. Had the owners happen to be off island, would this have been noticed? It's amazing to me that people could be so incredibly dishonest. As it is, with the cost of electricity and water, villa owners are struggling, to say the least. People who have the attitude..well, if they have a villa...they must be rich...and can afford it...who cares if we sneak in a few more people? More people equals more expense. It gives the everyday villa renter a bad rap. Wow, what could they have been thinking? I may be naive, but this story really surprised me. So, to all the everyday, honest villa renters, THANK YOU! To all the cheaters, well you know...

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:01 am

It is theft. And the way villas area priced, it isn't like three couple is 3x the cost. What a foolish thing to do to save a few dollars. How did they get caught?

I am a little surprised we don't hear more stories like this. I say this because we have friends that own a beach house on an upscale island and the renters behave so badly, the rental agencies keep unofficial black lists about problem renters. Bring extra guests (and dogs) is something they battle against all the time. It triggers immediate eviction.

RonUSVI · Post by **RonUSVI** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 8:40 am

I stayed at a villa once as the guest of the owner. He showed me the villa then told me to pick a bedroom, which I did, then he proceeded to lock the other bedroom doors, which I thought was quite odd, but I guess that would do the trick against unscrupulous renters!

betsyv · Post by **betsyv** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 8:49 am

Hi Seagrape,
There was another thread that was referring to having a forumite meet-up at the villa's. Not overnight, just a gathering. I think it would be a fun idea...to get to see other villa's on the rental mkt. and to meet people that have posted here...

BUT.. I pointed out that on our contracts it says no one but the renters in the villa. It is pretty clear they don't mean just "Staying overnight"
Just wondering if you or anyone you know who rents villas, has an opinion as to if this is "OK" or not.. or how to go about arranging it without getting into trouble with the landlord/agency.

We don't really have any plans to do this ( I am a newbie..and dont really know any forumites yet.)...Just wondering about it. Any opinions would be great!

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 8:55 am

My sister has a rental property in Maine. Every season we are shocked to hear the tales of what people think is acceptable. Like moving furniture. Why does anyone feel that is ok in someone else's home? Each time I hear this I put myself in any of the STJ villas I have ever been in. Have I ever even thought moving furniture would be ok? Of course not. Maybe turning a chair in one way or another but moving beds? No..cannot imagine ever thinking that was ok. And if by some chance I did think this was ok I would surely put it back the way I found it before I left. I just don't understand people.

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:41 am

I had someone once watch the girls while we were on vacation (not a forumite to be clear) and I came home, put on my favorite beach cover up that I had never worn (I was saving it for a special trip as it cost more than I would ever have spent on a cover up but it was soooo cute) only to find she had worn it and muct have thought it was too long on her so had cut about 6" off the length !!!! She also rented a power washer (we found the rental slip) and she must have power washed all of her surf boards - she used 12" of water from our cistern in a week and given Les and I use 2" per week it was a significant amount (yes we monitor the inches in our cistern) !!!!

Another time we returned (different puppy sitter) to find black velcro had been attached to the inside of our door frames so that when you closed a door they would be silent (never noticed they "bang" and still don't notice it if they do) !!!

Not the same thing I know but I sometimes just have to shake my head at what people do. Thank goodness they were on island and caught the "guests" (use that loosely) hopefully they paid up - would love to hear their excuse.

Pia

lazylane · Post by **lazylane** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:43 am

We are in the cabin rental business, and unfortunately, this happens to us also. We have it posted no visitors, only paid and registered guests, but some people pay no attention to policies or just have complete disregard. We have caught most of them (we hope!) and have charged for them or have even asked some to leave for disregarding our policies. I could write a book on some of the things that people do. When we rent a villa on STJ for 10 days, we leave and you can't even tell we were there! As it should be in my opinion!

momto3boys · Post by **momto3boys** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:58 am

Now this explains why bedrooms are locked in some rentals. Sad that because some people cannot be trusted they have to do that.

piscesgirl0314 · Post by **piscesgirl0314** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:11 am

Its terrible but does not surprise me. Some folks obviously did not get proper training at home...

lark22 · Post by **lark22** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:21 am

How awful!

If I owned a villa, I think I'd get jaded pretty quickly.

Re: moving furniture, I've done it only once -- the TV-watching setup was so oddly laid out, with a tiny TV that was way across the room, so I think we moved the couch for the week -- but we definitely moved it back to its original location before we left.

eala · Post by **eala** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:57 am

I've been part of a couple family companies all my life and know many small business owners. Every single one of them has black lists. It took me personally a long time to learn that there are dishonest people in the world and you shouldn't be disillusioned, everyone runs into them no matter what type of business or neighborhood your located in. We do our absolute best and you'll slowly develop a great clientel of refferals and repeat customers. Don't loose heart, just shake your head and move on. Most of the businesses in my area talk to one another and share their worst "lists." Wrongful lawsuits are common here and there are repeat offenders that 'trip' everywhere at least once a year. Pretty quickly, their patronage isn't welcomed anywhere in the community. It's really important to talk to your nieghbors.

needmesomesun · Post by **needmesomesun** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 1:32 pm

This is a really interesting thread to me. We have travelled to STJ many times over 11 years. In all those trips we have only travelled as a group once (and rented the appropriate number of rooms for that trip). On one of those trips, we were verbally accosted, by a management rep (when we had rented by the owner). We couldn't figure out why the manager had been so aggressive with us, but it was incredibly unpleasant. I guess this is one of the reasons why.

We were supposed to be able to choose the bedroom we were staying in, and basically it was a huge deal as they had already set us up in a room that we didn't want. Also, we had to continually assure him that it was just us. It got really unpleasant, to the point that we will probably never rent a villa in his charge again. It was an awful way to start a much needed vacation and I never want to have that experience again....

The whole thing turned out to be ridiculously stupid as there were security cameras everywhere anyway. What the heck?? Why assault us verbally if you can look at a camera and figure it out anyway? It was just the WRONG way to start a vacation (being accused of something that wasn't happening). I hope this man learns from his mistakes. I am still debating reporting what happened, but I am being nice as perhaps there is something personal going on in his life.

flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:27 pm

Pia I will be rearranging your furniture

And giving the puppies a dye job. That's ok, right?

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:52 pm

I'm going to wear her cover up but will have to extend it because I'm taller maybe I can use the drapes LOL

Marcia (Mrs. Pete) · Post by **Marcia (Mrs. Pete)** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:03 pm

betsyv wrote:Hi Seagrape,
There was another thread that was referring to having a forumite meet-up at the villa's. Not overnight, just a gathering. I think it would be a fun idea...to get to see other villa's on the rental mkt. and to meet people that have posted here...

BUT.. I pointed out that on our contracts it says no one but the renters in the villa. It is pretty clear they don't mean just "Staying overnight"
Just wondering if you or anyone you know who rents villas, has an opinion as to if this is "OK" or not.. or how to go about arranging it without getting into trouble with the landlord/agency.

We don't really have any plans to do this ( I am a newbie..and dont really know any forumites yet.)...Just wondering about it. Any opinions would be great!

A few years ago my husband and I hosted a dinner for two other couples (forumites) at the villa we were renting. It never even crossed my mind that we should check with the rental agency or owner to see if it was allowed. Given that we were not having a massive party (just six of us) none of us thought anything of it. In fact, it turned out to be good marketing because one of the couples ended up loving the villa and rented it the following year.

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