two more questions from newbie

[jminmaine]

Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone has time to answer two more questions. We are a family of 5 still searching for our villa rental for late Feb/early March 05. I am wondering

(a) how important is a 'south facing' pool? this seems to be mentioned in several adverts.

(b) cancellation policies seem much stricter than hotels, meaning one forfeits not just the deposit but the entire balance of the rent. Am I right here?

Thank you.

Jessica

[Newhomebuyer]

Many people here set great store on a south facing pool because in the winter time it will be cool if the sun is not onto the pool area.
However many Americans prefer the pool to face in a different direction so that they are not in direct sunlight at the very hot part of the day if they go in the warmer months.
It really is personal preference, You are going when the weather is warming up and you don't need a south facing pool, but you may prefer it, as many people do.

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jminmaine
Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone has time to answer two more questions. We are a family of 5 still searching for our villa rental for late Feb/early March 05. I am wondering

(a) how important is a "south facing" pool? this seems to be mentioned in several adverts.

(b) cancellation policies seem much stricter than hotels, meaning one forfeits not just the deposit but the entire balance of the rent. Am I right here?

Thank you.

Jessica
[/quote]

A lot of people like lots of sun....so if you do...a south facing pool gives you that all year round......

If you have very young kids you just can't get out the water......then maybe one with a little shade is more to your liking.....its really up to what you want.......

[athurstance]

You will be fine with the pool if the villa is not overlooked and single storey as the sun is much higher in sky than the UK. Many people like us have a covered lanai area just to give people somewhere to get out of the sun without having to go inside.
Cancellation policies vary from owner to owner but usually you will only forfeit your deposit if you cancel up to say 8-10 weeks before your arrival. After that and you would be able to claim on your travel insurance and the villa owner could give you a letter showing how much you had paid.

[Snapper]

Hi Jessica,

The way to figure pools is that east ones get the morning sunshine, west ones get the evening sunshine and south ones get a bit of both.

In the morning you see the sun first on an east facing pool, next on a south facing pool and last of all on a west facing pool.

At the other end of the day though you lose the sun first on an east facing pool, next on a south facing pool and last of all on a west facing pool.

So one idea is to think of what your plans are for during the day. If you intend to spend the mornings by the pool and then head out shopping or theme parking an east facing pool gives you the most sunshine. If you plan to be out early to the theme parks and return for the sunset then a west facing pool is nice. If you want to lay out by the pool all day then a south facing pool is good.

For cancellation policies you are right that villas tend to be stricter than hotels. The main reason for this is that if a guest cancels a villa at the last minute it can be difficult for the owner to fill the gap that is left - which then effectively costs the owner if the villa is unbooked and remains empty. Remember that the owner may also have had to turn away bookings if they were for the same dates. It isn't really fair that the owner incurs costs if a guest changes their plans. Hotels manage to work around this problem because they have lots of rooms and work on a target occupancy figure that is averaged across all their rooms. True, if there is a no-show on a peak time booking it still hits them, but they might only lose one room out of a hundred (or 1% of their income) compared to a villa owner who loses 100%.

Each villa owner effectively defines their own cancellation policy. If you do need some flexibility the best thing to do is discuss it with the owner and see what you can work out. This is one of the nice things about villas that you can chat to the owner. At least then you know exactly what the agreement is.

Hope this helps ... Steve.

[Ray&Sarah]

We have never really thought about which way our pool faces and up to now have not been asked, although we know that some rentors prefer to have a south facing one.

As to the payment policy as Steve has said this s to cover the home owner, if you cancel for a legitimate reason then you should be able to claim on your holiday insurance anyway, just like if you booked a holiday package. Some owners might be willing to rearrange your dates rather than make you forfeit the entire booking anyway, it never hurts to ask.

[ctgirlscout]

We have a north-facing pool, and the times that we have been at our villa, in April and July, we have had sun all day (well, except for the torrential rainstorms, but that's another story!). We have a two story house, but also an extended pool deck, so maybe that helps.

I can echo what everyone else says about cancellation policies. Usually you will just lose your deposit unless it is a last minute cancellation, and most owners would be happy to change your dates within a reasonable amount of time and apply your deposit.

[Cruella DeVilla]

People with southfacing pools wil tell you that is what you must have. The honest truth I am not dead certain which way ours faces, hubby would know, just know it is not north! You will crave shade at some stage without necessarily wanting to go indoors.

Cancellation policies they owners state have to be strict as stated above, if you have insurance then that will cover(check first before you buy) cancellation of holiday etc.

[caroline]

Both our villas have south facing pools, but we also have shade under the lanai.

We stayed in a beautiful villa at Ridgewood lakes before we bought ours, the pool was north facing but as the villa was single storey at least part of the pool was in the sun for most of the day, the biggest problem for us was the lack of deck at the far side of the pool which meant that there was only room for 1 chair in a sunny spot in the afternoon.

However friends have a north facing pool with a 2 storey villa and because they have a massive deck with the pool a good distance from the villa and loads of space behind the pool, there is always a part of the deck in the sun.

[chris c]

Like Teresa, we have a north facing pool and, as she says, the sun is on it all day.
We have been out in November/December and March and have never found the pool direction a problem.