Author Archives: Dave

Revamp of our vacation rental linen

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Vacation rental blogs have never been this exciting!

Family room next to the pool

Family room next to the pool with brand new HDTV

Well, actually they have – but we thought it was time to show off the new linen and convince our vacation rental customers that we are not really stuck in the 90s floral era that a lot of the vacation rentals seem to love and insit upon.  In the image above we have fancy new cushions and a large HDTV for watching the SuperBowl (and Disney movies of course).

Master vacation rental bedroom

Master vacation rental bedroom with new linen

Moving on to the master bedroom, complete with low maintenance swan and matching decor in the bathroom.  For anyone wanting to know, the mattress is medium (we have been asked).

twin room of the 4 bedroom villa

Bright and bold theme for the second twin room

The first of the twin rooms boasts bright and vacation-like bold comforters with funky pictures to match (hidden somewhere out of shot).

tuscan ridge villa twin room
American theme for the twin room

And the last of the twin rooms had to have a nice American flag-coloured theme (other nations’ flags are available and in no way do we bias our views on the American rental market – unless the American market want to rent from us of course, in which case we will bias as much as we possibly can!).

The second master suite’s update can be found on this blog: click here.

So, our vacation rental has kindly been updated by our management company, and it’s given our villa a fresh new look for all of our future potential customers.  We can’t wait to get out there and take some professional photos of the villa.

Snow again! Record lows in the UK for over 50 years

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Florida – 25 degrees.  Sunny.

Reading – freezing.  Snow.

As more snow hits the UK for one of the coldest March months in over 50 years, I take a look at the weather in Florida and see it’s hit 25 degrees Celcius and is rising.  Most of the UK is covered in a blanket of snow.  It’s almost April and I have no idea what’s going on with our weather.

Snow in Reading

Snow in Reading

Further north, drifting snow makes an appearance in Yorkshire, high up in the Pennines:

snow in yorkshire

Snow in yorkshire

In other parts of the UK properties in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and north-east Wales lack power, as do more than 200 in west Cumbria: Power problems remain after severe weather cuts supplies, more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21914538

No wonder everyone wants to get away and book our villa in Tuscan Ridge, Florida!  I think in 2014 Donna and I will book a Florida getaway in March, to escape the weather in the UK.  This is what we are talking about:

Snow Weather Warning

ICE in southeast England, East Anglia, The Midlands, mid and north Midlands, northern England, southern Scotland and eastern parts of Northern Ireland.

Lying snow in many areas will melt on roads and pavements by day, refreezing by night to give icy patches. Also, snow blowing off fields in strong to gale force winds will affect some roads throughout Sunday and Sunday night, especially over high ground.

The public should be aware of the potential for disruption to travel due to icy patches and snow blowing back onto roads.

Meanwhile in Florida

Mainly sunny. High around 70F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.

Tuscan Ridge Villa – March update

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I never thought owning a Tuscan Ridge villa would be so time consuming!  Renting out a property is definitely a big learning curve and something we are only just getting to grips with.  The best thing we did was buy in such a nice place such as Tuscan Ridge though.  A lot of our enquiries are repeat Tuscan Ridge fans!

Tuscan Ridge

Tuscan Ridge Drive, Davenport, Florida

How can you not be excited to turn up to a view like this?

Tuscan Ridge entrace

Tuscan Ridge entrance – Welcome to Tuscan Ridge

February Tuscan Ridge villa rentals

We’ve had a brilliant February with our first ever rental lasting over 30 days.  We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the rental market.  March is booked at a high occupancy but we still have some availability in mid April that we are hoping to fill soon.  It’s just after Easter so we may have to ramp up the marketing to get April nice and full. Fingers crossed.

So what have we learnt so far?

Transaction fees are expensive.  Ouch.  Every company wants to charge a fortune.  So far we’ve found that the best way in the UK is something as simple as a cheque or bank transfer, or PayPal so long as it’s sourced from a bank.  PayPal avoids having to give bank details away so it can be considered a little safer.

Foreign currency payments are a little trickier.  PayPal again charges a cross border fee, and a horrible currency exchange rate if it’s not in a currency you hold in PayPal.  Thankfully we hold both USD and GBP so we can avoid some of those fees.  Most North American customers prefer PayPal so a wire fee is also avoided.

Therefore make it extremely clear how you handle payments at the point of first contact, to avoid any confusion.  Most renters are happy they’re staying at our Tuscan Ridge villa anyway, so it’s quite a pleasant market to be involved in.

Secondly, enquiries enquiries enquiries!  We’ve had hundreds, and desperately need to make some nice sounding templates up.  Some sites are worse than others – we may have to avoid the sites that allow a blanket spam of “all villas in Disney”.  I bet the innocent email enquiry gets hundreds of responses back, which would be a bit of an information overload to the unsuspecting customer.

Lastly, make sure you respond quickly.  We always aim to respond to an enquiry about Tuscan Ridge within an hour in the daytime – and sometimes even in the middle of the night!

 

Everglades City Florida adventure

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Orlando is only a few hours away from the spectacular Everglades national park and their famous Mangrove trees.  If you fancy a break away from the theme parks and crowds of Orlando you can easily head down to somewhere like Fort Myers or Everglades City to stay overnight and break up your holiday.  Beware – alligators are a common sight!

Alligators

Alligator safety!

As long as you are sensible and don’t go near the edge of any water, it’s more than likely that the alligators are more scared of you than you are of them.  Easy to say behind the safety of a keyboard, of course…..

Alligator

Alligator sunbathing, or waiting to gobble you up?

Everglades City

When we visited the Everglades we stayed at the Ivey House Bed and Breakfast in Everglades City: http://iveyhouse.com/. This is a well maintained bed and breakfast with friendly staff and a cosy feel.  The rooms are small but clean, and the toilet facilities are interesting (see below!).

Ivey House

Ivey House – small cubicles…

Canoe through mangroves

The Ivey House organise fantastic canoe trips into the Everglades and mangrove trees, and if you’re lucky you’ll see an alligator or two!  The Everglades are very shallow, only a couple of feet deep, and canoeing / kayaking through the mangroves was a fantastic experience, not one to be missed if you stay in the area.  We ventured through some tiny tunnels in the mangroves, and probably visited some areas that very few people get to see.

mangrove canoe in the everglades

Canoe in the Everglades through the mangrove trees

Waiting to canoe into the mangroves

Waiting to canoe into the mangroves

Everglades city is a fairly small community, quiet and tucked away.  There are some nice restaurants and airboat rides to be had in the area.  We couldn’t resist tucking into some gator, frog’s legs and conch fritters!

gator

Gator, Frog Legs, Conch?

Last but not least, everyone has to have a ride in an airboat.  These boats are propelled by an aeroplane propeller to avoid the situation whereby a normal outboard gets clogged up with vegetation in the swamps, and they travel at high speed through the mangroves, often performing some “acrobatic” manoeuvres along the way.  The guides are usually well versed in the history and nature of the Everglades, making for an educational as well as an exciting adventure.  Not to be missed.

Everglades Airboat Ride

Everglades Airboat Ride

 

 

LEGOLAND discount tickets | Florida Winter Haven

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The LEGOLAND website has recently reduced its Florida resident annual pass to just $99 (correct as of February 2013).  Compared to a single entry to the Winter Haven park at $64 this seems like a bargain.  The pass gives you free parking, LEGOLAND discount dining, admission to the LEGOLAND water parks as well, and admission to the other Merlin attractions in the USA.

For those who don’t have a valid Florida photo ID, if you are a fan of LEGOLAND discount then it’s definitely worth looking into a Merlin annual pass on their website: http://www.merlinannualpass.com.  These are currently (2013 prices) at $179 for an adult.  The pass not only gets you in to all LEGOLAND attractions, it also has the following:

  • Madame Tussauds New York, Washington D.C, Las Vegas and Hollywood
  • LEGOLAND® Discovery Centers Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth and Kansas City
  • LEGOLAND® Theme Parks Florida and California
  • SEA LIFE Aquariums Arizona, Dallas Fort Worth, California, Kansas City and Minnesota
  • Plus more attractions coming soon!

 

LEGOLAND discount tickets will get you in to the full list of 2013 events at LEGOLAND.

LEGOLAND 2013 Winter Haven

  • LEGOLAND Water Park re-opens for spring break and summer-time. March 9, 2013
  • Winter Haven Hospital Foundation’s Citrus Classic 5K Run and Fun Walk. April 6, 2013
  • Red, Brick & Boom allows guests to celebrate the 4th of July. July 4, 5 and 6, 2013
  • Brick-or-Treat for Halloween festivities. Weekends in October 2013
  • Christmas Bricktacular. Weekends in December 2013
  • Countdown to New Year’s Eve Party. December 26-30, 2013
  • New Year’s Eve and a DJ dance party in Miniland USA. December 31, 2013