what is that and where?

I've been watching their progress occasionally online. It takes a long time to get things done in the VI and there are certainly a whole lot of things that can go wrong. I'd never make a reservation for a place that was still under construction. Personally, I don't think they had any business taking reservations at that stage of construction. Maybe they didn't know any better. Maybe they were getting desperate to have some money start to come in. I'm sure that some people who put their trust in them are them are and will be disappointed at the least.

I've been following the blog as well. My impression is that they feel horrible about having to cancel any reservations and are doing all they can to find alternate villas, refunding, etc.

Is this not the case with you?

From the blog, it seems as if "island time" got the best of well-laid plans. They broke ground over a year ago!

They certainly didn't "screw" you intentionally but I can see how it can be emotionally draining for you.

I agree with Nick and Lysa. They obviously had no intent to mess up your vacation and by reading the blog they felt terrible about having to do it.

BUT, as Nick points out, they obviously have done their research on building on St. John so taking reservations before the place was finished was ill advised. Too much time and money goes into putting a vacation plan like that together to cancel on people.

Jersey Jane,

Does the management of Bongo Bongo own/manage other rental properties? If so, I would ask for another villa and maybe an
upgrade at the same cost? Just an idea to think about.

I was very interested in reserving this villa when I was villa hunting last year. Even though they ASSURED me that the villa would be complete by April, I still had reservations booking it for June and I followed my instincts and booked a different one. I'm sure glad I did because I have a feeling it may not be done by our trip dates.

I do feel for everyone affected by this delay but also think it was premature to take bookings for a villa as uncompleted as Bongo Bongo was and being built by island timers on island time. Good luck and let us know what happens.

this property is managed by carefree getaways which as I understand it is a reputable rental agency on the island. i would think that the BB owners consulted with them and the builders, etc as to when to begin taking reservations. so obviously everyone was off the mark.
i'm booked in this villa for october and i'm hopeful. i would think that those who booked for the april/may time frame knew they were taking some what of a gamble.

while it is unfortunate, it sounds like they are trying to make it up to people as best they can. i'd be interested, jersey jane, to hear more from you about how you got screwed by the BB owners. did they not do what they said on their blog, as far as trying to make it up to people?

mary beth

I empathize with the guys at Bongo Bongo and I’m sure it pains them to have to cancel reservations, BUT they must take responsibility for assuming a best-case scenario in a place where that never happens.

After 20+ years of renting villas, we have learned 3 rules the hard way that we never violate:

1. Do not commit $$$ to a place that is under construction. Even if it is “ready” by the time you go, it takes time to work the kinks out. We were the third guests in a new villa once and people were coming by every day to adjust this, connect that. There are plenty of fine villas around. Pick one of those and save the new one for your next trip.

2. Do not rent a villa that is on the market or has recently been sold. This is hard to know in advance but worth asking about. One place we rented the previous owners had pulled out the stereo, half the kitchen (pots, glasses, toaster), and even the art on the walls. This was a $3K per week off-season rental from a “reliable” agency, so we were pretty ticked.

3. Do not sign an agreement that allows you to be bumped for no good reason. The reason we wound up with the villa in #2 was that our original booking was cancelled because the owners decided at they wanted to use it and the agreement allowed them to do this. The “comparable” accommodations we were given were hardly that.

Good luck to all!

My wife and I have just returned from St. John after a week at our house. We have met Jeff and Russell many times and discussed many aspects of building, our "problems" and associated issues with building. We truly believe that they had only good intentions and NEVER meant any harm. We think they really thought they would be done on time (much of which they had been made to believe through their builder.....we too went over build schedule by about 6 months)
Our property management did not recommend advertising it and booking it until we were really done, and have done an excellent job of representing our house. We are so glad we followed their advise, or we may have ended up in the same way....
Again, another case of island time vs. on timers from the east coast.
The guys are doing their best and will end up with one of the fanciest 2 bedroom houses on the island. Good guys....and this is coming from someone that is in direct "competition" with them, as far as house rental. I would be very hesitant to use the word "screwed", although I do realize one could feel that way, especially if it is one of the first times to the island and a special vacation....Give the boys a little break, and I'm sure they will make it up somehow.
We walked around the house (the guys were not there) and had brought them a 6 pack of Red Stripe for their frig, but did not leave it (wanted to give it to them in person).. There is a bit to go yet before one could stay(guessing 1~2 months depending on workers vs. island time again.)
Bongo Bongo will make a very nice addition to the rental market and we wish them the best.

ok now im nervous! My fiance and I are headed to bongo bongo mid-june for our honeymoon and our reservations have not gotten cancelled yet. I guess we were silly to book our reservations so far in advance but we love the place and follow the blog everyday and decided this was the place we had to stay. Fingers crossed...!
Jersey Jane...when were your reservations?

I'd be less trusting if it was me. I certainly would be calling them and asking what they were going to do for me if they aren't able to honor the reservation. I truly believe that they have good intentions, but they're kind of clueless and it appears to be messing up a few dream vacations/honeymoons.

Reading this (and being a frequent BB blog reader), I can't help but think that those guys are really well-intentioned. Especially when coming from a "competitor" who has met them... Yes, maybe they were a little naive, but I would say "buyer beware" as well. Even on the mainland (as opposed to "island time"), houses get grossly over-budget and WELL behind schedule. Financing, weather, etc off-island are big concerns, and you'd have to double or triple the potential problems when dealing with shipping and "island time".

Give 'em a break! If it's your dream vacation, then probably you ought to get a sure thing. Or at least, get trip insurance and have clauses built into the rental agreement should the place not be ready - especially if you're the first rental! It's not YOUR fault, but it's not all their fault, either!

well said.

We also had booked Bongo Bongo for the week May 13 to May 20th. We were very disappointed when we got the call 3 weeks before our trip telling us that it would not be ready. We had to find our own alternate accomodations which wound up being excellent. We went to Bongo Bongo and saw the guys and we really feel bad for them also. Our problem was with their rental agency that did not try to find us a comparible replacement villa. They offered us a condo without a pool. We spent days trying to find something that wasn't booked and Kathy from Island Getaways was wonderful in helping us. I think the bad press is based on their rental company who should have bent over backwards trying to help the people who were cancelled. It makes sense to me that the guys building it didn't realize how long things would take, but the rental agency should have known better.
Anyway we had the best week ever and recommend Daffodil Villa to anyone who is thinking of going to St. John. It is further away from Cruz Bay than Bongo Bongo but it is higher up on the hill and has great tradewinds. It was clean and the views were wonderful.

Kathleen,

You should let the guys know, if you haven't already, that their villa company didn't take proper care of you. I certainly don't think your expectations were out of line and the guys probably wouldn't either.

If they don't know how their "renters" are being treated, they should.

Jennifer

that's a shame to hear that carefree getaways didn't provide proper assistance. i would be sure to let the owners know. so far I have found them good to work with but who knows!

Couple of thoughts...

First, I have been following the Bongo Bongo site for quite some time, call it living vicariously, with prices what they are, my best hope is to rent a week every couple of years, but I enjoy reading the updates. I know nothing aside from what I've read on their site, and have no reason to promote/demote them, but here are a couple of posts from their site related to the delay... I hope I am not doing something to upset them, but the way it is set up a link would be tough, and since they published it, I assume they won't mind that I repeat their words.

-----------
April 18, 2006
Painful decision. We canceled our first few guests today. There was no choice. It is not going to be ready. Period.

What do you do when you cancel guests? We find them another place to stay, or give a full refund and we offer a huge discount if they want to try Bongo Bongo again. Embarrassed doesn‘t even come close to what we‘re feeling

Of the relatively small number of bad days during this project, this is the worst. We’re both miserable.

May 18-22, 2006
... We were told we got trashed on the VI Now travel forum for canceling the first guests. I haven’t had the stomach to read it. For a house that was supposed to be done in DECEMBER, taking bookings for the first of May seemed like a no brainer. We were wrong and take full responsibility, and we are truly sorry if we ruined someone’s trip. We did all we could to make it right...
-------------

I'll also add that if you read through it, you will realize that it has gone over both the time and $$$ budget significantly, based on the rough numbers I can fathom and % quoted, it might help understand why some places don't get finished. These guys don't sound like multi-millionare execs with stock options throwing money around, but your basic successful working folks who have saved, made some money in the market, inherited a little, whatever, my personal hope is that the over-run doesn't end up costing them the place down the road.

I see two possible scenarios.
First:
Is this standard procedure, and were they naive and is it their fault? If so, then the rental agent shouldn't have taken it and been making bookings when they did.

Second:
It is truly a case of bad luck on the delays (which the rental agent with their experience could not have envisioned), for whatever reason.

Either way, the BB guys come across as the good guys in my mind, thinking clients who didn't get taken care of were accommodated.

On a personal note, a few years ago, I had a cruise booked over a year in advance, not quite a once in a lifetime, but close, holidays, Panama Canal, wife's a teacher, only once every several years we get the full two weeks vacation, ship was scheduled to be in production about 3 months before (I considered potential delay, but this was the best option for my schedule, as they say, you pays your money, you takes your chances), kept getting delayed, got 10 days notice to re-book a Christmas cruise... got some credit, didn't make up for the extra cost of the cruise we were able to get on (what can I say, plane tix booked, son was a senior in HS, that time would not happen again, we wanted to go SOMEWHERE), but I also had followed things and had my options, so I accepted responsbility for being in that situation. Didn't get to do what I wanted, but it didn't ruin my life, either.

I choose to be happy every day when I wake up (beats the alternative of NOT waking up, eh? ;-), knowing that I have enough money to even consider trips like we're discussing, particularly when so many in the world are struggling to have the basics, life, food, medication, etc.

Sorry for dragging on so long, one final thought, I think the BB villa looks great from the pics - I like the BIG pool, and if I am in a position to rent a place that size (may not happen, I usually need a little more room), I would seriously consider it.

Good luck to the BB guys, and I hope that all who were cancelled are able to make the best of it and have a great vacation!!!!!! Seriously, where you stay is part of it, but all those beaches and snorkeling are the same whether you're at the Westin, a condo in Cruz Bay, a south shore villa, or some mega $$$$ in Peter Bay...

irbgolfin

I hope you did not think I was bashing the guys from Bongo Bongo. I wasn't. It was a trip of a lifetime for us and the stress from being cancelled was overwhelming. My problem clearly was with the rental agency. With that said, our trip turned out to be fantastic. At 50 years of age, I have learned a new lesson. Do not book reservations for a place that is not finished. The guys from Bongo Bongo were great. They took us on a tour of the place and you are correct it looks beautiful.
St. John is a beautiful place and the villa we got to was great. I too am lucky enough to afford this type of vacation and wish the guys from Bongo Bongo luck in getting their place finished soon.

Happy Tuesday Kathleen!

Glad to hear you had a good trip.

From previous posts, because the info wasn't there or I didn't interpret appropriately, it was not clear to me where you felt the blame lay, two parties obviously involved. I was just trying to communicate the posts that were made on BB, and my interpretation. I certainly did not intend any barbs towards you.

I also could not agree more regarding your comment on age and learning lessons... I am just 4 years shy of you, but am completing my first year back in grad school with the hope of earning a Ph.D., BS in '82, MS in '87, returned to college in '05, working towards a 2nd career, so to speak. IMHO, you should never stop learning. Our kids will be joining us for a week in StJ in 2 1/2 weeks (one a college grad, one close), a vacation that I can tell you I am looking forward to tremendously, this past year has been one of the busiest, toughest, whatever, I've ever had. For many reasons, age, school, job, family, etc. In my mind, the worst thing that can happen is Delta goes out of business and I can't go, the 2nd worst is my villa burns down and I sleep on the beach. Short of that, I will be happy, I will do some snorkeling and have a few libations.

Like you, I have lived and learned, and there are things I will know better than to do again, like booking trips on unfinished accommodations, whether it's a villa or a ship.

irbgolfin