Given the recent confusion over the booking fee and other changes with these sites, is there any consensus about the best way to find and book rentals currently? I'd like to get my villa rented for next April soon.
Thanks for your help, friends!!

Luxuryretreats.com and st.martinblue.com are two reliable websites.

We have used VRBO (owned by HomeAway) extensively however not in St Martin. We have had good luck with all of our rentals. But, the rentals are through the owners (Vacation Rental By Owner).Therefore experience, booking fees, etc can vary from rental to rental. The rentals are not controlled by VRBO... this is just the platform used to market the rental (not really all that different than Craigslist or other sites that provide classified adds). When looking at properties on VRBO, I always look at the reviews and I am sort of cautious of those that have been on VRBO for years but have no reviews.

I have used AirBnB extensively in the States as well as abroad. I find comfort in the degree of identity verification they require before you are able to use the site (from both host and guest ends). My advice is to use a property with many reviews, and additionally, look at the hosts' other properties and read those reviews as well to construct a more comprehensive interpretation of the property and the people you are paying.

I used gobeach.com and avoided the fees for the place I wanted that was also on every other rental site.

I have used VRBO with excellent results, as long as I go thru the website to deal with the owners! I got taken when the site in England was hacked.... Always go thru the owners section, be sure you talk to the owner and ask specific questions ...how far is it to the nearest market, what is next door....if you dont get an answer, or someone wants cash for a huge discount....contact Homeaway immediately. All other rentals thru VRBO have been great and exactly as advertised!

Totally agree. First time rentals should always be through the Homeaway site. After that a repeat rental in the same condo/home/apt can be done direct with the owner.

We have three that we repeat rent at and are now all done direct with the owner.

Actually, VRBO and Homeaway offer a bit more protection that Craig's List. Both sites offer guarantees that the property exists and will make refunds. In addition, the renter has protection via their credit card since these sites allow owners to easily accept credit cards for all payments. Last, the sites are pretty strict in freezing and eliminating problem listings.

Unfortunately, Homeaway and VRBO (really the same company) have enacted booking fees charges directly to the renter. The fees are standard and are a percentage of the rent.

I would also note that often, these properties are listed on ALL the sites...VRBO, AirBnB, and then often might have their own website where you can contact the owner directly for booking. This could be valuable so that you are at least able to utilize the fee-sites, for the purpose of reviewing the experiences of other guests. This was the case in my recently booked apartment in SXM.

General reviews of AirBnB and Homeaway/VRBO:

AirBnB

VRBO

Thanks Dane for the additional input. As I mentioned, we have used vrbo and home away extensively. I do realize that this site is much safer than craigslist. However, what you say is just partially true. The booking fees and protection are only for those properties that you book through VRBO/Home Away by clicking on the 'book now' button. There are thousands of properties where this option is not available and booking is handled directly through the owner. My most recent experience was two weeks ago for a trip coming up in November. The owner only accepts cash and the price was as quoted with no additional fees.

We have used VRBO & AirBnB=both rentals were great-I like the AirBnB guarantee-we paid by CC and they charged us $139 for the service on a one month condo rental for February 2017. AirBnB does not forward the rental fees to the owner until 48 hours after our arrival. If there is a problem we can contact AirBnB for assistance. To me the fee is no problem to guarantee a great vacation.