FYI, so far I have sent e-mails to 6 property management websites & talked to 2 of them by phone and would like to compliment Seaview Homes, Private Homes for Private Vacations, and McLaughlin Anderson for their friendliness and detailed responses to my questions. Nanci at Seaview Homes has been wonderful.

I think dealing with an agent or owner based right there on the island is the best bet.

OOPS!!! I forgot to mention the very first person who promptly returned my phone call--Connie at wheretostay.com. She was extremely helpful.

denij7

One question to ask, particularly on St. John, is the condition of the access road. The roads to some villas are very steep and unpaved. Most are paved but it's worth asking.

I also had a quick response from Private Homes and BookitVI.

I'll add that I had a very quick response from an email I sent to Calabash Cottages. I got a call the next morning. Since I am taking teenagers, I decided to go with a pool and Calabash doesn't have one or I would put them high on my list.

I am renting from private homes for the third time. They are excellent! Very friendly and helpful. They are very professional. The houses have never let us down. We have stayed at Tree House and Tesseract and will be staying at Viewtiful this summer. I highly recommend renting through them!

Denij7: I just read one of your other posts about renting from St.John. We travel to st.john in early to mid August and have never had a problem. We just booked in early February for this year. We got great airfare for the 2nd week in August ($350 each out of NY). While we will be in at 1pm for this year's trip, we have arrive late before. A year and a half ago we arrived at 8:30pm into St.Thomas. We hopped on the first taxi and the driver brought us to the best ferry for the time. When we were waiting for the ferry, we called our rental agency to let them know we were in and they were their waiting for us. We did not however rent a vehicle that time, so you'd have to talk to the agency about how you will do that.
Tesseract through Private Homes has a pool (and maybe now a hottub???) and is closer to town than others, but is alittle more of a drive to the beaches (maybe 10 minutes). Tree House and Viewtiful (formally Miles Away) are VERY close to the beach (about a 2 or 3 minute drive) but further going into town. We have never stayed at Sago Palms but it looks like the most convenient location (of course it is one of the more pricey ones!)
Also, just alittle bit of advice if you rent a home, we bring a cooler of food. As long as you don't pack it with dry-ice, you are fine. It has really been great in the past since there are such great kitchens to take advantage of! Also, for renting vehicles, we go through Cool Breeze Rental and rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle. However, any rental agency would be fine as long as they let you park in their lot when you are in town (parking in town can be tough).
Any other questions, let me know! Good Luck!

Zach, I have TONS of questions & it sounds like you have lots of answers! How can I contact you?

I'm not usually on this often!!!
[email protected]