June 21st, 2010
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For my English readers there is an interesting piece in the Daily Mail today about sunscreens and their efficacy.
I am always surprised and a little depressed when I see tourists coming here from colder climes, mainly European, who when visiting the beach or waterparks insist on covering up their kids in ridiculous clothes and lathering them in the highest factor sun screen available.
The sun is good for you and your kids.
Don’t ruin your kids vacation by not allowing them to enjoy the sunshine. Let them feel it on their skin. Take a shade to the beach, get an umbrella or a cabana at waterparks and when it gets too hot, sit in that beautiful shade.
Simple really.
Posted in Guest Tips |
June 16th, 2010
I am reading with great pain and chagrin that Mousesavers.com have decided to take the hotel advertising dollar stop featuring vacation rentals on their site.
I have decided not to feature rental vacation homes on MouseSavers.com. That’s partly because of the mixed reports I’ve had from readers, but it’s mainly because I have done considerable in-person research on vacation homes. Without identifying myself or revealing my connection with MouseSavers.com, I have viewed a lot of homes and had extensive conversations with property managers and individual owners. Some of the homes were much nicer than others. However, I came away from my research feeling uncomfortable with recommending any particular company or individual.
I can only assume that they have had perfect reports from all the hotels in the resort area otherwise they would obviously feel uncomfortable recommending them too.
I was going to fisk the rest of the article but I was overwhelmed with a huge boredom and really couldn’t be bothered. The following paragraph from the site rather summed things up:
Some companies mentioned on this site (including the MouseSavers Preferred Hotels, travel agencies, ticket agencies, etc.) compensate MouseSavers, Inc. financially.
Now, I have no objection to taking a few shekels when it suits. But to then proceed to write a load of old tosh about the competition to justify it smacks a little of desperation.
I’m obviously biased but having been to many hotels in the area I can unequivocably state that vacation rentals are better value for money and just, well……..better.
Update: Mousesavers.com is a very ugly website. Who would want to advertise their vacation rental on it anyway?:
Posted in News |
June 15th, 2010
As you can see from the very exciting new link in the sidebar I have today launched an affiliate program. So now you can introduce your friends and family to the great homes promoted by VRBooker and derive some benefit yourself. I get a new customer and you get some cash, moolah, green, bucks, spondoolicks, dough, beans etc etc…..
Can’t say fairer than that!
Go on, check it out.
Posted in News |
June 14th, 2010
Had a great night out last night at Imperium Food and Wine in Celebration. Real food, great staff, good wine list and not too expensive. This will definitely become a regular haunt.
Posted in Restaurants |
June 13th, 2010
As reported in the Washington Post it is a shame to see more and more scam listings on the major Vacation Rental listing sites and Craigslist.
Yes, vacation rental seeker, you should “be worry.” Or at least be careful. Though there are plenty of legitimate offerings on Craigslist and Vacation Rental by Owner and HomeAway and a host of other sites, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reports that sham vacation home offers are only the latest in a long list of online fraud operations it tracks.
The center began noticing the scams last year, said Charles Pavelites, the special agent who heads the complaint center. Then they started hearing so many stories of travelers showing up with their luggage to locked doors, nonexistent apartments or surprised families sitting down to dinner who had no intention of renting to vacationing strangers, that they began to gather them on a new Web site: Lookstoogoodtobetrue.com. And the crooks, Pavelites said, are masters of social engineering.
“They’ve got it figured out — what will you fall for?” he said. Some put their prices right in line with other, legitimate offerings, he said. Some steal legitimate rental listings or photos off legitimate sites. Or even legitimate brokers’ names. Some set up fake companies, create fake e-mail accounts. “Anything that appears to give them more legitimacy.”
All these listings tend to be deals that are ‘too good to be true’ or just a little bit cheaper than the other listings. Is it really worth the risk of turning up at your vacation rental home only to find it doesn’t exist just to save a few dollars.
Let us find the ideal Orlando vacation home for you, ‘Posh Homes’ by VRBooker.com. 
Posted in Guest Tips |
June 12th, 2010
I have just received this email from a returning guest:
I would really like a house- either the last week in July or 1st week in August. There are only 4 of us so it doesn’t have to be huge. If you have anything please let me know. I much prefer renting from someone I trust. I have been going nuts on homeaway.com and am nervous about neighborhoods I don’t know! I want to get something booked ASAP!
The timing couldn’t be better for me as I am just about to get the ‘Posh Homes by VRBooker’ page put together. Using this service you will be able to rely on us to find you a great home rather than trawling through all the vacation rental listing sites yourself. (With no guarantee that what you see is what you get).
Thanks for the trust!
Posted in Testimonials |
June 10th, 2010
Been working hard on a new project, Posh Homes. I am really kind of excited about it.
Not so excited I couldn’t find an hour to pop down to the Reunion Resort water park though.
It’s a hard life!
Posted in Personal |
June 8th, 2010
We had great fun yesterday playing putt-putt (Mini golf for my English readers) at Congo River on the 192. Even with all the theme parks around us putt-putt is my youngest’s favorite thing to do.
So don’t forget to visit the small attractions when you visit the area. Disney is going to see enough of your money and in the current economic climate all of these smaller businesses could do with a little extra cash.
The hole inside the Congo Queen was particularly devious and was a major blemish on my card. Still, Mrs. VRBooker cheered me up.
Posted in Personal |
June 4th, 2010
Well, after a great start to the year and a fantastic Easter all you tourists have disappeared. I really should have taken a vacation myself. 
When times are quiet there is only one thing I can do to cheer myself up and that is enjoy a little schadenfreude. So in that vein, Reunion Resort apparently was at only 20% occupancy for Memorial weekend and they are forecasting 15% occupancy for July 4th. They have got to be praying that the ‘Wyndham Effect’ starts to kick in soon.
So I might be about to enter the poor house but it looks like there is going to be a very long queue in front of me.
I was chatting to someone about this state of affairs recently and she pointed out to me that exactly the same thing happened last year and June and July eventually turned out very busy.
I am holding my breath…….
Posted in Uncategorized |
