We arrived on July 29th, and thanks to the advice from many people on this board, we rented our first villa in Terres Basses – Villa Content. <br><br>The villa was rented through St. Martin Villa Rentals at www.stmartin.com. Keslie was courteous and helpful and was able to answer all of our questions plus more prior to booking. Upon arrival, we were met by a St. Martin Villa Rentals agent at the airport who took us to Budget to pick up our car. The staff at Budget were quick to process everything and in under 5 minutes we were on our way to the villa. I travel on business frequently and rent vehicles – this was the quickest and easiest rental I’ve had!<br><br>The St. Martin Villa Rentals rep, unfortunately couldn’t spend much time with us as our flight was late and when we left the airport another villa renter had just arrived on a Continental Airlines flight so he had to get back to meet them. For the life of me, I can’t remember his name, but he took us to the villa, gave us the keys, showed us the features and gave us the number to the office. Then he left – a bit disappointing, but not disastrous.<br><br>The villa consisted of a central room including the living room and dining area, a kitchen, two bathrooms and two bedrooms – one on either end of the villa for greater privacy if renting with two couples. At the rear of the villa were a medium-sized kidney-shaped pool and a gazebo. At the front of the villa was the outdoor living area complete with sitting area, dining table and barbeque.<br><br>The villa was situated on a hilltop, overlooking the water and the city of Marigot – the views at night were breathtaking.<br><br>The pictures online of the villa don’t do it justice. The grounds have had further landscaping and the various plants are much larger and provide more privacy. As well, the villa has been renovated with new appliances and countertops in kitchen, new mahogany furniture in the outdoor living area and pool lounges, redecorated bedrooms, new tile in the bathrooms and new furniture in the living room. <br><br>Maid service is provided six days per week (Rosalind) and there is a caretaker onsite (Christom). Rosalind was a joy and provided us with detailed information on the island. Christom, as I mentioned, lives onsite and has been there for about 20 years, but he’s very discrete and you can’t even really see his house from the villa. We only saw him once during our stay and he seemed very pleasant.<br><br>To ease some of the cost of the trip, we had most of our meals at the villa, or brought picnic lunches with us to the beach. We spent a lot of time at Happy Bay and found we were the only ones on the beach – absolutely wonderful! It seems that there’s a hotel going to open in November, so we expect that this will be the last time we’ll be the only ones at Happy Bay.<br><br>One final note, it seems that the toll-free number Air Transat gave us to confirm our return flights was only available in North America. Not knowing what to do, I called the local St. Martin Villa Rentals office and explained the situation. Within 5 minutes, they had contacted the company representing Air Transat on the island, confirmed our flight times and called us back with the information. I was very impressed!<br><br>All in all – a fantastic time! We felt safe and secure during our trip and we’re counting the months until we return!<br><br>Lori & Doug<br><br>P.S. Match is open and under renovation.<br>For 2 persons, the rate during low season is $1500 USD. I believe that the 4 person rate is $1750 USD. <br><br><br><br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 9/1/00 10:46 PM.</EM></FONT></P>