Is this a good idea?

[Coconuts]

We were down at the Marketplace the other day, arranging to transfer phone, internet, cable, and power at Plumeria from the previous owners to us, when we decided to upgrade phone service at both Plumeria and Coconuts to a flat rate plan that offers unlimited calling to the mainland US. There's a fee for this, of course, and blocking long distance calling has long been an assumed fact of life for villa rentals, but it seemed that this had the potential to make things a lot easier for our guests. We have heard multiple tales of folks returning from a stay on St. John to find some pretty shocking roaming charges on their cell phone bills.

That said, does using your cell phone on St. John still involve risk and uncertainty, with so-so signal strength, and the risk of big bills, or have most of you figured out how to deal with this (GO phones, changing your plan ahead of time to suit the island, etc)? How useful or not would our new unlimited land line calling to the mainland be? There's a charge for the plans, so it would be helpful to learn how valuable or not it would be. This crowd is pretty island-savvy, and shares best practices, so the average and less informed visitor might find it even more important.

Twenty some boxes of gear have arrived for various and sundry upgrade projects; we will be pretty busy over the next week. Contractors vanish on the weekend, though, so we managed to hit Caneel yesterday. It goes without saying, I expect, but hiking to Honeymoon in bare feet - not such a good idea. Ran into Inner Vision, Michigan Girls and family, and Bigcheese and his parents and children at High Tide the other night. Two painkillers and a bowl of conch fritters on his tab, and I granted him a full and formal BCA (Booty Call Absolution).

All the best,

Kevin

[Myheart'sinSTJ]

Good morning Kevin, I've never had the need to use a villa phone, my ATT works great on island. I do contact them ahead of time to let them know that I will be leaving the mainland and they make note of it on my account, just in case something did pop up on my bill, how is Plumeria coming along , I did not know that it was a "done deal"

[Coconuts]

MHinSTJ: Yeah, we closed a few weeks ago, and spent our first night in our new home on Thursday. We really like the place, and are busy installing lots of nice upgrades. The main question mark is the deck: refinish, or replace? I posted on our purchase here: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/virgi ... =1&t=25048

So the vote is running: Useful - 0; Useless - 1. Any and all feedback would be appreciated. A business colleague who stayed at Coconuts a few years back mentioned $600 in unanticipated roaming charges upon their return, so some folks who don't prepare can clearly be impacted.

All the best,

Kevin

[ski2play]

Kevin,

I incurred $300 on my verizon phone when traveling in October 2012. With that being said, it was mostly work related so I was reimbursed. I do not feel it is the villa owners responsibility to provide this service. So I am in the useless camp.

p.s. glad you are settling in, upgrading, and enjoying!

[stjchica]

In 3 or 4 island trips, I don't recall ever using the villa phone, but we usually just send a text, or touch base with family via social media real quick..

[bdkane]

If its not too much I think its a good Idea,

Our first visit we did get hit with a high bill, mainly because the "Now your roaming - now your not" issue and we were not very careful, we have since learned to keep on eye on the service bar on the phone.

I think it would be nice for the novice so not to leave a bad taste in their mouth ... again that is if its not ridiculosly priced on your end

[mbw1024]

ATT here presents no problems. So no need for us to use a villa phone. Different answer if we are talking the Coral Bay side.

[PatrickMcc]

We have a Go Phone (yes even here at home) and have used it for on island calls without a problem. In 30 years we have only called the mainland once on a land line so we would be in the useless category. If it will have a significant impact on your rental rate that might lose you some renters- price is one of the bottom lines with us when we rent. Maybe you could include a warning about roaming charges in the info packet you leave in the villa- if you do leave one. By the way your discussion of Coconut got me interested in renting but it is not big enough for our group- six adults and three preschoolers- is there a discount for renting both at once?

[mnfun2bme]

We've always had a calling card along which allowed us to call out from the villa. Although a nice feature, not sure it's worth your money... but would depend upon how much of your money? Coconuts already has so many incredible selling features, not sure if that would be a "tipping point."


Great idea to ask the question!

[cocosmom]

I too am a AT&T customer so maybe my opinion is helpful. I personally want something to communicate to/ from wherever I am on the island. I would not depend on being in the villa to make calls. I would think that would be the case for most people and that is why they get go phones or suck up the fees. On vaca I can't imagine running back to the villa to call someone back home or for business.

[Coconuts]

The responses have certainly been informative... I had presumed that fear of unexpected roaming charges would have been up there on the list, but the consensus seems to be that an unlimited villa phone calling plan isn't really necessary. Of course, forum members are much better informed on this issue than most. Casual visitors, though, might not even realize that there is a problem that they should be concerned about. The charges for the unlimited plan aren't bad: they are $30 per month per villa, and a new island-wide fiber optic build out is slated to be completed in under two years, and is likely to further reduce the premium for unlimited calling. Coconuts (and shortly Plumeria) has a number of differentiated amenities, some of which aren't mentioned on the web site, and are only obvious once you show up. No one of them is in itself a knock-out, but in aggregate, they can really help enhance the guest experience. Unlimited mainland calling felt as though it might be one of those. I'll poll Caribbean Villas to see what they think, but am inclined to leave the feature in place for now, and see if I can get a sense of guest reaction over the next few months. Any and all additional forum comments will be appreciated.

All the best,

Kevin

[Diana2]

I think this is a great perk to have available to your guests. Usually we use our cell phones (AT&T) or a calling card but a couple of years ago I had to be on the villa phone for many hours to arrange for my Mother's care as she had fallen while we were on STJ and being able to use the villa phone for calls would have been very nice rather than dialing a million numbers to use the calling card.

[mindehankins]

I would find it to be a useful amenity. We use Verizon - not useful at all here. We always use a calling card to phone home.

[PA Girl]

My husband needs to check in with the office once or twice a day when we are on vacation and those calls last 10-20 minutes. So for us, unlimited long-distance would be a nice perk but our situation is unique, I don't think the majority of visitors need to be as connected to the office as my husband.

[Myheart'sinSTJ]

Kevin-back to Plumeria, having stayed there, I would not go barefoot on the deck because of was afraid of spinters I realize it is alot of deck to replace with Azec or Trex but it would be a beautiful enhancement to the outside area (in my humble opinion), it is so easy to spend someone else's money! Whatever you decide I'm sure it will look beautiful. I took a lot of beautiful pics from that deck, this is the area where my friends and I spent many hours hanging out.