Questions You May Have About Our Service
Unlike hotels or resorts, each vacation rental is unique and offers a vast array of different amenities and features. Feel free to use our search page to find your perfect villa or reach out to our team of villa specialists who know the properties well. Depending on your top wishes, budget, and destinations of interest, our team will provide you a tailored list of our top choices for your vacation.
As they say, the early bird gets the worm! With vacation rentals gaining extreme popularity, we always suggest that you book well in advance for peak days. For the busiest weeks in the year like Christmas and New Years, many of our villas are rented 1-year in advance or more. For other peak winter periods book between 6-12 months in advance of your stay for the most selection. That being said, we understand that for variety of reasons early-booking is not always a possibility. We are always happy to work out last minute discounts or options when you are in a pinch!
Our standard booking and cancellation policy is a 50% non-refundable deposit to reserve the dates. The balance is due 60 days before check-in for low and high-season periods. For Christmas and New Years rentals, the balance is due 90 days before check-in. We offer trip cancellation insurance through our partner Rental Guardian.
There are no hidden fees when booking a vacation rental with Personal Villas. In some instances, there are extra resort membership fees listed on the property page. Other costs associated with a vacation include groceries, staff tip, and ground transportation like airport transfers and car rentals. We provide all guests with guidelines for budgeting your entire vacation so there are no surprises!
Minimum stays vary by property and season. Low season is typical May to November and depending on the villa ranges from 2 to 5 night minimum. In high season November to April minimum stays are typically 5 to 7 nights. For peak periods like Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, and New Years the minimums range from 7 to 14 nights. For any questions regarding availability please contact our villa specialists.
Yes and no! We offer a best rate guarantee for all rentals found on Personal Villas, and sometimes we can beat the rate published online. For last minute rentals, low-season, or longer stays please reach out to our villa specialists to discuss a discounted rate. Our properties also feature certain seasonal promotions throughout the year so please join our email list to always have the most up-to-date specials running.
Yes, we offer a variety of trip insurances through our partner Rental Guardian.
We accept all major credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. Payments are processed secure online through our payment partner Stripe. We as well accept direct wire transfers.
All rates on Personal Villas website are listed in USD.
As a rule of thumb we suggest you budget $50-60 USD per adult per day, if you are eating 3 meals at your villa. This of course can totally vary depending on dietary preferences and portions. For example if you have rice and chicken each day it will be less than premium cuts of beef, lobster, or other imported items. For all of our villas we offer grocery pre-stocking services at the local markets, to be placed in your vacation rental before you arrive. For fully staffed villas, your staff can do grocery runs on your behalf and you reimburse them in cash.
All of our vacation rentals are set up to make you feel at home! In most cases all you need to bring is your clothes and personal affects. All Personal Villas properties come with bed linens, beach, and bath towels. Essential products like toilet paper, paper towel, and basic toiletries like soap and shampoo are also included. Depending on the destination, converters for your electronics may be another item you need to bring.
First of all, you are in for a treat! There is nothing quite like being at your own fully staffed villa with a swimming pool. Popular vacation destinations with full staffed villas include Barbados, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Staffed villas include services like a Cook or Chef to prepare your meals, butlers to serve drinks and snacks, and housekeepers to keep the place tidy and in some cases even do your personal laundry! In many cases, the villa staff have worked at the property for years and know the intimate in’s and out’s of the house. Most staff commute to the property each day and hours are typically 9-5pm. In some cases staff can stay later for extra fees. At some of our larger estates, the staff live onsite in staff quarters and your privacy is completely assured.
The rule of thumb for staff tip is $10-20 per person/ per day depending on the exact services that staff are involved with during your stay. Staff can be paid gratuity at the end of the stay in cash in USD or local currency. In Jamaica the tipping culture for villas is suggested at 10-15% of the total rental rate.
All Personal Villas vacation rentals include a private on-site check-in with our local rep. In most cases our representative will greet you at the airport car rental location. You will sign over paperwork for your car rental and then follow our greeter to the property for check-in. You will be provided a quick orientation of the property, wifi codes, and receive a copy of the key(s) or fobs. If you now the destination well and wish to make your own way to the property we can arrange to meet you there.
Yes in all destinations we are able to offer you private driver services. Most drivers we use are also certified tour-guides. Not only will they to shuttle you to the beach and other activities, but they are very knowledgable about the local history. Be sure to ask for some secret areas or tidbits from your driver! Rates for drivers vary so please contact our villa specialists for more info.
Check-in time is usually 4pm and check-out time is 11 am. If there are no other guests arriving or departing the same day as you, there are instances where we can accommodate an early or late check-out. Please inquire with our villa specialists for more info.
There are many villas which are not suitable for families with children. This can be due to open stairways, cliffside locations, or other reasons that we have deemed the property is not safe. In some instances, children can be accommodate with an extra liability waiver signed between you and the property owner. We do offer a huge selection of vacation rentals in all destinations which are super family friendly and offer amenities like cribs & high chairs.
Unfortunately not all properties are accommodating of our furry friends. Please click here for a list of pet-friendly accommodations.
Our villas have strict occupancy guidelines listed on the property page. There are some villas which permit a small number of extra guests with over-occupancy fees. Generally, children under the age of 2 are not counted to occupancy. Please inquire with our villa specialists if you are going over the capacity with infants.
As a policy, most of our properties require the owners written authorization for any outside guests on premises during your stay. Usually it is no problem to have a few friends come by during the stay for dinner or to use the pool but we would require this information prior.
Passports are required to visit all destinations we offer aside from the US Virgin Islands. Check with your local government and travel ministry to find out if you need any other documents or visas while visiting. For immigration purposes you will be required to provide the address of the rental property, which will be provided to you before travel.
Many of the islands in the Caribbean that we offer accept both USD widely as well as the local currency. For other international destinations you may need to exchange to the foreign currency before your travels. Major credit cards are accepted in all the destinations that we offer. Many travellers choose the convenience and safety of credit cards while abroad. Staff tip and grocery costs associated with your rental are payable in USD, so please check with your villa specialist before your vacation so you are prepared. In many cases there are local ATM’s or banks where you can use your foreign debit or credit cards to get cash.
Hurricane & storm season in the Caribbean and Mexico is August to November but this can change year to year. For all guests travelling in these seasons we strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance through partner Rental Guardian.
As they say, the more the merrier! Good question, and we are here to help! Our team has experience in planning vacation villa experiences for groups all the way up to 60 guest. It is never an easy feat, but is incredibly rewarding to plan a vacation for a large group of friends or family with memories created for all. We have villas up to 14 bedrooms as well many “sister” properties which can be rented together for larger groups. As these requests always take more time and energy to plan, we suggest that you reach out to our team of villa specialists who can help you pull off the ultimate group vacation.
While we don’t pretend to be a wedding planning company, we do offer many villas that are well set up for destination weddings. Our local partners can help direct you to the best local wedding planners to help you organize flowers, wedding officials, hairdressers, and anything else you may need. Weddings are accepted on a case-by-case basis at most of our vacation villas, please inquire with a villa specialists for more info.