*** Green Tea nears 10000! *** And another milestone for the Premium Bonds review at over 32,000. W...
*** Green Tea nears 10000! *** And another milestone for the Premium Bonds review at over 32,000. What next? Bronze? Current projects: the works of Offenbach; hotels; personal health items.
Member since:13.11.2002
Reviews:328
Members who trust:82
No sooner has Christmas come and gone than it will be time to start thinking of the summer vacation. I have never been a one for the organised party or the package tour. I have always preferred to look after my own destiny and make all the arrangements myself. To this end I now book the family’s flights over the internet and wherever possible use e-tickets. I have loyalty cards with several airlines and a couple of hotel chains.
Our family (although not large) is quite diverse in its age range, activity and accommodation requirements. We do all agree that our experiences of self catering holidays have always been the most relaxing and enjoyable.
Some years ago, we started staying in villas rather than hotels. Initially booked through a travel agent I then chanced upon this web site where the vacation homes were privately owned even if they were maintained by local management companies. ‘Vacation Rentals by Owner’ (VRBO) is one of the largest such organisations on the net. They are based in Colorado but provide facilities for owners of properties worldwide. Naturally the large majority of properties are in the US (covering virtually every state) but there are also listings covering (amongst others) Australasia, China, Caribbean, UK, Denmark, Israel, South Pacific and Poland.
Navigation around the site it straightforward and can be browsed by country, region, state or town. I have found inspiration in browsing the various areas worldwide – both in considering new places to visit and arranging suitable places to stay. To date we have stayed in several villas in Florida and have also booked a Georgian apartment in London. I have found contact with the owners to be a very friendly affair. The standard of accommodation and maintenance is extremely high.
Each owner takes out a one year contract with VRBO and has the facility to display a description of the property, neighbourhood and local activities, three photographs (more on a separate page) and details of availability and rental charges. Facilities are also available that allow editing of pages by the owner to keep information up to date. It is also possible to download an availability calendar. Prospective clients then contact the owner by telephone or email (not through VRBO). This aspect is a free service to the client.
Three years ago, we ventured into the vacation ownership market ourselves. Although we have a local management agent who looks after some short term and seasonal bookings for us and maintains the villa, we have also subscribed to VRBO. Joining was simplicity itself. Our page was initially made up for us from our own text which we have subsequently edited and refined. The photographs were transmitted as jpeg files. We have also been able to provide a link to our own web site where we maintain a much larger library of photographs, anecdotes and descriptions of the villa and the surrounding area. VRBO also submit vacation home details to the major search engines on behalf of the owners. The VRBO staff have been very courteous throughout and we have had a steady stream of enquiries (5500 page hits since we went live in April 2000).
The front page is at http://vrbo.com. If you like the idea of uncluttered self-catering vacation travel staying in some of the best maintained homes from home, take a peek. These are properties you would love to own yourself. All styles, party sizes, locations and budgets are catered for. You'll be spoiled for choice. You might find, like me, that you become hooked.
Who knows, you might even find my own page!
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Dec 11th, 2002
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