USVI-On-Line

Am I the only one wondering about the "reservation fee" now being tacked on to other rental fees?

We have been renting since 2002 and never had reservation fees just hotel taxes. It makes me more inclined to rent directly from the owner. With the interwebs and all, it's not really that hard to book a reservation.

I know it's only $50, but it's the principle. I would think the villa owners pay the rental companies already.

Who is charging a reservation fee?

Viva, for one. Just saw it in my son's contract for one of their villas.

Companies with fees other than Hotel Tax

Carefree Getaways: $35 Reservation and $35 Security Deposit Waiver
Caribbean Villas: 5% Service Charge & $500-$1500 Damage Dep. depending on villa
Caribe Havens: $50 Reservation Fee
Caribbean Palm Properties: 3% convenience fee charged when paying with Visa, or MasterCard. Non-refundable damage waiver of $50.00 is collected
Catered To: $50 Reservation Fee and $50 Security Waiver
Cimmaron St. John: Service fee 3% of the total payment is included for each reservation
Island Getaways - has refundable Security Deposits of $300 to $1,000
McGlaughlin Anderson - $200 - $2500 Security Deposit
Seaview Homes: "All villas require a damage deposit. Terms and amounts vary."
Vacation Vistas: $50
Viva!: $35 Reservation Fee + $35 non-refundable Security Deposit Waiver fee + A few select villas may alternatively or additionally require a security deposit waiver of $70.00 or a security deposit of $70-$2500.
Windspree: $35 damage insurance fee and also "If you have received a discounted rate or are booking for 5 days or less you can make your way to our office or pay a $65 arrival fee to be met at the dock. If you arrive on the 7 PM ferry or later there is an additional $80 fee that will be added to your invoice. A 3% credit card fee is applied if booking at the regular posted rates."


Companies that I did not see a reservation fee:
Artistic Villas
Cloud Nine Villas
Destination St. John - "NEVER PAY EXTRA FEES… EVER! No booking fee, No service fee, No Credit Card fee."
Private Homes for Private Vacations
St. John Properties
Star Villas
Virgin Villas

Those are the ones I had bookmarked.

I just never, until this past summer, remember having an addition reservation fee added, and I don't know why all of the sudden many of the companies are adding it.

AIrBNB (always) and VRBO (now) have mandatory fees if you book thru their 'book it now' process or thru their payment system -- these can tack on costs anywhere from 4-9% of the total rental fee -- and they are not at all transparent about it from what i can glean (i.e.: you have no idea you are paying a fee until you have already paid) -- generally you can avoid these extra costs if you google the place you are interested in and contac the owner directly (most now have their own websites or FB pages) -- there is still contact information on VRBO listens for most owners-- however they will be removing all modes of contact that are outside of their email system in the coming months from what i have heard (that means even if you send your phone number to an owner with an inquiry it will be stripped from your email ) -- good times .......

Destination St. John does charge security deposit, or at least they used to. We had to send them a check for $1,000 when we rented a Coral Bay villa from them. It was returned to us uncashed after our stay.

Catered To has always charged the reservation and damage waiver fee. They also have an after hours greeter fee if you arrive late at night. They are a very responsive mgmt company so I do not mind those fees.

nothintolose wrote:Companies with fees other than Hotel Tax

Carefree Getaways: $35 Reservation and $35 Security Deposit Waiver
Caribbean Villas: 5% Service Charge & $500-$1500 Damage Dep. depending on villa
Caribe Havens: $50 Reservation Fee
Caribbean Palm Properties: 3% convenience fee charged when paying with Visa, or MasterCard. Non-refundable damage waiver of $50.00 is collected
Catered To: $50 Reservation Fee and $50 Security Waiver
Cimmaron St. John: Service fee 3% of the total payment is included for each reservation
Island Getaways - has refundable Security Deposits of $300 to $1,000
McGlaughlin Anderson - $200 - $2500 Security Deposit
Seaview Homes: "All villas require a damage deposit. Terms and amounts vary."
Vacation Vistas: $50
Viva!: $35 Reservation Fee + $35 non-refundable Security Deposit Waiver fee + A few select villas may alternatively or additionally require a security deposit waiver of $70.00 or a security deposit of $70-$2500.
Windspree: $35 damage insurance fee and also "If you have received a discounted rate or are booking for 5 days or less you can make your way to our office or pay a $65 arrival fee to be met at the dock. If you arrive on the 7 PM ferry or later there is an additional $80 fee that will be added to your invoice. A 3% credit card fee is applied if booking at the regular posted rates."


Companies that I did not see a reservation fee:
Artistic Villas
Cloud Nine Villas
Destination St. John - "NEVER PAY EXTRA FEES… EVER! No booking fee, No service fee, No Credit Card fee."
Private Homes for Private Vacations
St. John Properties
Star Villas
Virgin Villas

Those are the ones I had bookmarked.

I just never, until this past summer, remember having an addition reservation fee added, and I don't know why all of the sudden many of the companies are adding it.

We rented from Cimmaron this July/August. Their 3% fee was on top of everything, which I had never seen before...typically the percentage fee is just on the rental rate, but Cimmaron adds up the rental rate, taxes, plus and $85 damage deposit waiver, THEN adds 3%. I figured that the only reason they'd be doing that would be to make up for a credit card transaction fee so I asked them if they'd drop the 3% if we paid by check, and they did.

I don't think Marc Miller does either - some great homes there and a great property management company to work with..

http://www.jamesmmillerpropertymanagement.com

Pia

All of the fees I posted were taken directly from the websites. The main fee I have an issue with is the "Reservation Fee" which, since 2002 going almost every year, never had to pay. Even the rental company I almost exclusively used prior to this summer, now charges that fee.

In my opinion, there is no reason to charge a "reservation fee" and wonder why so many of the rental companies are doing that. I am sure the villa owners pay them to manage their properties. I know it's only $35 or $50 but it's the principle.

Laimsaunt, I just copied and pasted directly from Destination St. John's site with regards to their claim of no fees. I see they do charge a deposit but that is refundable.

I have no favorite companies or want to slam any. Someone asked who charged fees so I decided to look at all of the companies I had bookmarked. Mainly, this was just a post wondering why companies have started, in recent years, adding this fee.