USVI-On-Line

I know some rental agencies have a "per bedroom" policy and some of them even lock up unused bedrooms. I've read about the reason for locking up so I understand why. Still, I have a tendency to go for agencies that don't have this policy. It's not that we sleep around in different bedrooms, we always use only one (except showers), but we like having flexibility in a villa and also just like the feel of having the entire house available to us.

Anyway, we've never rented a villa from the agencies with a "per bedroom" policy and have a question for those who have:
If you are a couple renting one bedroom and the villa has showers that are all adjoined to the bedrooms, this means you can use only one shower that is in the bedroom you rented, right? Have any of the agencies let you use a shower other than the one in the bedroom you rented? I assume that a bath/shower room is a part of a bedroom, so the answer is most likely "no" but I wanted to ask anyway.
I realize it's not a big deal to have one shower or two but we kind of like having two since we end up taking it at the same time fairly often (no, we don't take shower together ). Sometimes we don't have much time between the beach and the reserved dinner and would love to not wait for the other person to get cleaned up.

Some of the villas we admire have a "per bedroom" policy and we are somewhat reluctant to go for them.

(no, we don't take shower together ).

Pickle, I had to laugh at that statement.

Don't you know about saving water in the Islands? Soon, they're going to demand that at least 2 people shower together to save water

I've rented lots of houses with the per bedroom policy. Only one had the extra bedrooms locked off. As far as the bedrooms go, we look at them all, then pick one and stick with it. I will use more than one bathroom though, even in the case of a house where the baths are attached to the bedrooms. I've always assumed, unless the bed/bath is locked off, that the cleaning team is going to have to clean the bathroom anyway, for sanitary reasons (they'd have no way of knowing whether it was used, right?).

I always thought the biggest reason for the bedroom policy was a laundry/water concern. Not having to clean multiple sets of sheets/towels saves time for the crew and water for the cistern.

Most cleaning crews charge per bedroom - that's what drives the locked bedroom policy. We've stayed at 3 villas managed by Kathy with Island Getaways, Inc. Mystic Ridge keeps unused bedrooms locked. Long View is a 2-bedroom and all rooms were open. She let us have the keys for both houses at Sol Inclination. We stayed in the room with the outdoor shower but the wind made it tough sometimes, so we showered in the other bathroom. And most villas have an outdoor shower - give the neighbors a thrill!

Shower in groups...conserve water.

Pickle: see if the agencies can get you floor plans of the villas you're interested in. Not all sites have floor plans and sometimes it's hard to tell from the description where all the bedrooms and bathrooms are. Then you could see how handy (or not) a potentially locked room would be, and whether it would affect you.

Chet wrote:Most cleaning crews charge per bedroom - that's what drives the locked bedroom policy. We've stayed at 3 villas managed by Kathy with Island Getaways, Inc. Mystic Ridge keeps unused bedrooms locked. Long View is a 2-bedroom and all rooms were open. She let us have the keys for both houses at Sol Inclination. We stayed in the room with the outdoor shower but the wind made it tough sometimes, so we showered in the other bathroom. And most villas have an outdoor shower - give the neighbors a thrill!

Shower in groups...conserve water.

GREAT idea Chet! Back in the day when I was young and thin we often did that We were checking out Chateau Margot with Kathy but our original 6 couples became 5 and we asked if she would lock one of the main house adjoining bdrms/bath so that each couple could have their own pvt bath and she flat out said no. So now we're checking other options. Guess we'll look at that as a sign I understand the reasoning for the locked unused, BUT I would think the agent would accomodate your selections. Okay, okay, I just had to vent. Hope you don't mind Pickle

Hmmm... maybe a "per bedroom" policy is not as strict as I thought? I mean other than the ones where bedrooms get locked up. I thought we were not supposed to use other bath/shower rooms if they are adjoined to the bedrooms, but if we actually can, it will be helpful to us. I guess flexibility all depends on agencies and villas.

chicagoans, I really like the villa websites that show floor plans. Personally, I think they all should have these on their websites for us to look at. I can't speak for others but it does help my villa search.

Anyhow, thank you all for your input, as always!

We just got back from a week at Villa South Palm, booked through Suite St. John. There were 3 couples and 4 bedrooms, so we asked what the deal was with the 4th room. We were told that we rented the whole house not just 3 bedrooms, so it wouldn't be locked and we could use it if we wanted to. That's my only experience, so I don't know what the usual practice is.