Leaving in 20 Days, Still No Word From Villa Owner!

[sweetpeakaris]

I'm starting to get very nervous. I'm normally 90% packed by now but I can't bring myself to do anything untill the person I'm renting from contacts me. I have this feeling that we may not be going anywhere. The owner told me she would send me a Paypal invoice requesting the Balance 6 weeks prior to arrival, now that we are 20 days away, I still haven't gotten it. I emailed her yesterday morning and I'm waiting on a response. I feel like once I hear from her to confirm everything I will feel like I'm going on vacation. I was reluctant to book with this owner as she had no offical booking forms. I'm just hoping and praying she has our reservations and I don't run into any problems.

Has anyone else had this problem before? Not hearing from owner till the last minute.
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[HeatherC]

I have not had this problem in the past and we have rented privately a number of times.

Maybe they are on vacation themselves and just haven't responded yet.

Where are you staying? What you might consider doing is going ahead and reserving a back up place in case you can't reach them. (But I'm sure it will work out fine!!!) Even during peak weeks, you can usually find pretty good deals in Orlando.

A couple of places to check might be:

Marriott.com - They have a couple resorts that offer villas and are beautiful and an easy commute. You can also cancel the day of with no penalty.

www.hotelkingdom.com
www.windsorhillrents.com
www.orangelake.com
www.starwood.com - Sheraton Vacation resorts. Also check out the special rates on www.wdwig.com for these resorts.

Hope this helps you out. But I bet you will be hearing from them soon and happily on your way.

Best of luck to you.
HeatherC

 

[sweetpeakaris]

The Condo is at Windsor Hills. This is a strict budget vacation for us. I booked with her because she offered us the best deal. I will be looking for a back up just in case, but since it's Easter week, I'm worried that most places are already booked. Not to mention it's important for us to stay in WH since we are vacationing with 4 other families that are staying at the resort also. I also don't think I'll find late minute ressie's for a condo or home for the price she quoted us for the 9 nights we plan to stay. A hotel will not work well for us, I have a child with a low immune system and all his food must be freshly prepared so I need a kitchen.

 

[KayR]

Do you have a phone number for the owner. Perhaps it is best to just call them.

Most owners would have wanted the payment sorting out by now. It sounds like you have paid a deposit, but not the balance of the payment.

We always take our laptop with us when we travel (even when we went camping last year!). Sometimes it is a pain if we have to use dial up, but we do what we have to and make sure we get to emails at least once a day - but often times more than that.

Give them a call. It is best to get thing straight now, rather than in 3 weeks.

-Kay

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Yes, I paid $250 for a deposit. I tried calling the owner and got no answer, will try again later on, maybe she's working.

 

[Mainebound]

Wow, you were way more patient than I would have been to wait until day 20 to email her!

Call call email email every day, if not 2 times a day, to get hold of the owner. I would insist on SPEAKING with her at this point.

Hopefully you are just dealing with a scatterbrain, not someone trying to take your money.

I bet it won't be necessary, but I bet you can find something last minute, even at Windsor Hills. and owners who are not booked this late for Easter would be likely to make a good offer.

It will all work out!!

 

[sweetpeakaris]

UPDATE- She called me back about an hour ago and stated she haven't checked her email in a couple days. I told her what dates we booked for, she asked my last name and said it didn't sound familiar but of course she can't remember everybody name. Anyways, she said she would get back to me in an hour, will post here when she does.

 

[Suzyq9241]

she called you back.....

We rented through one of the timeshare rental websites and we hadn't heard anything - paid in full- so my sister in law called all the phone numbers that were given to her and no answer at either of them....

called back 2 weeks ago and the phones were disconnected...

come to find out the guy had died...January 28 - she found his name on the website of his town local paper...

Called the furneral home and they had confirmed it...

She had to try to get in touch with the widow...
no she didn't get in touch with her ... so she wrote a letter to the furneral home and they sent it to the address that they had...

She had called the credit card company and they had credited her account because she went throught paypal... and now they are going after paypal...


But... we still got the place we want.. costing us more but its for the magical place so its worth it...

 

[5mins2disney]

I bet it won't be necessary, but I bet you can find something last minute, even at Windsor Hills. and owners who are not booked this late for Easter would be likely to make a good offer.

Not true, WHR is completely 110% full for late March / early April. We get 40-50 emails a DAY asking about these dates, it's all been full for months now, trust me!

We've even had emails from Management Companies and Tour Operators begging to find ANY open homes for these dates, there simply isn't anything open! We had a 4-5 night opening in one of our townhomes, some lady was trying to offer us 1/2 price for it too....SORRY...booked it last night to someone at the regular price! You used to be able to do that, but it's becoming a very popular "hot" resort to stay at now, I think those days are long gone! (Unfortunate for you, but that's great news to a lot of owners who were really hurting for business in the past!)

Owners are starting to raise their rates too, the days of finding a $50/night condo are going to be history soon.

 

[Mainebound]

Not true, WHR is completely 110% full for late March / early April. We get 40-50 emails a DAY asking about these dates, it's all been full for months now, trust me!

We've even had emails from Management Companies and Tour Operators begging to find ANY open homes for these dates, there simply isn't anything open! We had a 4-5 night opening in one of our townhomes, some lady was trying to offer us 1/2 price for it too....SORRY...booked it last night to someone at the regular price! You used to be able to do that, but it's becoming a very popular "hot" resort to stay at now, I think those days are long gone! (Unfortunate for you, but that's great news to a lot of owners who were really hurting for business in the past!)

Owners are starting to raise their rates too, the days of finding a $50/night condo are going to be history soon.

Don't scare the OP! Maybe the townhomes are pretty booked (and I am sure yours are!), but it took me 2 seconds to find availability on VRBO for Easter week:

http://www.vrbo.com/10592 (house)
http://www.vrbo.com/11516 (house)
http://www.vrbo.com/109178 (condo)

It seems hard to believe that I could get into the Grand Floridian last minute at Christmas due to cancellations (which we have done, pre-kids), yet there isn't a single unit in Windosr Hills.

And if WH doesn't work out, there are lots of other equally lovely developments equally close to WDW for the OP, like Emerald Island, Windsor Palms, and Formosa Gardens.

Although it sounds like it may work out after all! good luck!

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Is there an easier way of searching VRBO? I really hate clicking each link when looking for a place. Is there a general inquiry form?

I'm gonna email those WH places to check availibility, some people don't use those calendars.

I swear next year I will book with a more reputable owner, I can't stand being nervous like this. Still 3hrs later and no contact, she shouldn't have told me she would call in less than 1 hour earlier. I really think she's not organized and just praying she didn't overlook or double book our ressie's.

 

[cruisincarrie]

Are you allowed to tell us which home you are renting? I am looking to stay at WH and don't want to end up in this situation.

 

[Mainebound]

Is there an easier way of searching VRBO? I really hate clicking each link when looking for a place. Is there a general inquiry form?

I'm gonna email those WH places to check availibility, some people don't use those calendars.

I swear next year I will book with a more reputable owner, I can't stand being nervous like this. Still 3hrs later and no contact, she shouldn't have told me she would call in less than 1 hour earlier. I really think she's not organized and just praying she didn't overlook or double book our ressie's.

I agree, she is not behaving repsonsibly at all.

I wish there were an easier way to search VRBO, but you do have to go listing by listing. And although I think I found some available units, one never knows if the owners have updated their calendars.

You can put in a general inquiry at www.windsorhillsrent.com. Sadly, you will get many replies from owners who do not have availability.

you can also do a general inquiry for your dates at Windsor Hills on fabvillas.com (choose "advance search")

HTH!

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Thanks so much for all the advice!

 

[5mins2disney]

I agree, she is not behaving repsonsibly at all.

I wish there were an easier way to search VRBO, but you do have to go listing by listing. And although I think I found some available units, one never knows if the owners have updated their calendars.

You can put in a general inquiry at www.windsorhillsrent.com. Sadly, you will get many replies from owners who do not have availability.

you can also do a general inquiry for your dates at Windsor Hills on fabvillas.com (choose "advance search")

HTH!

That part I agree with! Owners like this drive me nuts, the 1 or 2 bad ones give the rest of us who work our butts off to keep people happy a bad reputation! /sigh

Unfortunately, these are the same kinds of people who don't keep their calendars up to date.

And...VRBO is a royal pain to use, totally agree with that statement, but that's the biggest website out there, so you're kind of stuck with using it sometimes. There's homes you will find on VRBO that aren't listed on windsorhillsrent.com...there's also homes on sites like fabvillas that aren't on the other 2.

I based my availability statement on the queries we're getting from windsorhillsrent.com and a private owners referral website I have access to, not vrbo (I don't have time to query the 100s of calendars on that site).

Sorry, didn't mean to scare anyone.

I truly hope it works out for you, if you have any problems, please do let us know, we'll try and find you another place in the resort to stay, Mainebound is probably right, if we look hard enough we can probably find you something.

 

[FLParadisevilla]

If you want to try other neighborhoods you can try
www.indiancreekflorida.com
You can also go to www.fabvillas.com and I think search by neighborhood.
Windsor Palms, Emerald Island, Indian Creek, Rolling Hills, Sunset Lakes,
Oak Island Cove, Formossa Gardens they are all about 4 miles to Disney.
You can also try www.OnlineFloridavillas.com they verify each home every 6 months. Or www.orlandovillas.com which is the same owners as Online Florida Villas.

 

[sweetpeakaris]

UPDATE- Wanted to let everyone know that I heard back from the owner this morning. She has our ressie's and said she'll send me a paypal request for the balance. Now I can relax a little knowing that I do have a place to stay once I arrive(fingers crossed)!

Thanks to everyone!

 

[A&CsMom]

I'm so glad to hear that. Did she give any reason for being so late requesting the balance?

 

[isla bonita]

I am so glad it all worked out for you. I was at the edge of my seat. I had no idea where to go with this. I am not often without something to say. Some one on the EI forum has a referal site and they did not have anything available. Not that there are no availabilities but just not on her referal system. She owns in both EI and WH or WP not sure.

It is great that things worked out for you all. I have never heard of something this crazy happening. Just so glad it is a go. Have a wonderful vacation with your group.

 

[5mins2disney]

That's what I was saying Deb...same referral site shows nothing open on WH, WP, EI, anything in the area basically for Easter. Not that everyone in the area is listed on it, or any of the sites for that matter, probably have to dig deep to find something, it's not completely impossible, but darn close! My comments on avaialability by the way were not based on my homes, but on the state of the resorts and the area in general, which is 99% full at this point....I actually pulled in a favor for a guest in a similar situation already 3 weeks ago and found her a last minute poolside condo reservation, so my options are pretty well tapped out!

(Villa Direct cancelled her reservation at the last minute, which I find to be inexcusable, especially for a large MC to do this to a guest! Told her the house she booked had been sold. What kills me...when our friends bought a home booked by them, they pulled out all of the reservations...said they're moving them to a new home, probably did something similar!)