TripAdvisor.com

So...have you heard of http://tripadvisor.com yet? One of my sisters told me about it. It's a great website to do your research on before you take a trip. It's easy & free to register. Once to do so, can you select a city or cities that you are interested in and receive info about those. It's mostly lodging/airfare kind of info.

What I've done is start looking around for the next trip my sisters & I have planned. Last year, we were planning our sister trip to Savannah..wow - there is a ton of information about popular destinations. Oh, and it cover the globe, not just the U.S.A.

One of the best features in my opinion is the forums. These are categorized by location. For our just-completed vacation in northern GA, I went to the Blue Ridge forums and asked for help regarding the problem with the rental owner deciding to keep our deposit. Check it out here:http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g34778-i3004-k2090222-Deposit_unfairly_kept_by_vacation_rental_owner_help-Blue_Ridge_Georgia.html

I got some great answers! I really loved the post where someone gave me GA law...we actually included that in our letter to the owner...and we did get our deposit back!

Another great thing is that you can go and see reviews that "real" people have left. I still need to go post some reviews from our Savannah trip...for example, we were very dissatisfied with the Whistle Stop Cafe...and very happy with other restaurants. I love reading those...but remember to take all reviews with a grain of salt. I read a lot of reviews for "Lady and Sons" that were negative..but within those reviews were some great ideas. It helps to keep your expectations in check as well. I believe reading reviews does that.

Ok, that's all for today - Happy Vacationing!

2008: Carter's Lake, GA - Deposit being refunded!

Yea!! I haven't even blogged at all about this year's deposit disaster here! I did a little on my other blog (http://thatissocute.blogspot.com/). So, let me backtrack and give you a little history. This is the year that us 5 sisters and assorted husbands & kids all get together for 5-7 days. We had found a place through http://vrbo.com/ (vacation rentals by owner). It was quite expensive...but earlier in the year it looked like we were going to have a group of 18 or 19. Well...then several people had things come up where they were not able to join us. Another one was not able to get off of work. We were going to end up with 14 people. All of a sudden, we weren't really in need of a 6 BR 6Bath place. So, we looked around on VRBO and found a 5 bedroom in the same general area. Available. Cheaper. My main concern was that there were no comments on the site from customers. Emailed the owner who said she was willing to provide them. But, we were busy, running out of time and didn't follow through. Booked it and paid the deposit.


The place was quite nice. Just a few issues that were worth contacting the owner about (the satellite TV didn't work in 2 of the bedrooms...and the air conditioning could not keep the house cool during the day). The other issues were not worth calling about (food left in the house from previous tenants, a full trash can on the desk, empty beer bottles outside on the mountainside, a chip in a bathtub faucet, a bear foot on a wooden toilet paper holder comes off).

We packed up on our last day...checked the list of what we needed to do (turn the thermostats back, make sure there is no food, only 2 bags of trash left, all linens left in laundry room,etc). Did it all! Went home happy.

Deposit was supposed to be returned within 7 days. On day 9, my sister sent an email inquiring as to the status of the deposit...and was told it was being kept! We supposedly were disrespectful of her house and nature...Er, not true at all! Anyway, to make a long story short...we sent a letter back, certified mail, stating that she was not entitled to our deposit. The things she stated were that way when we arrived. She took the word of her cleaning lady (yes, the same one who did not previously report the damaged toilet paper holder or the chip in the faucet, who did not pick up the beer cans left by the previous tenants, who did not take care of the food that was left, and did not empty the trash can on the deck) and claimed we did all this!

She is sending back our deposit. But now, she claims that we inquired about about the return of our deposit the day after we left! Really??? We left on June 21. June 28 was 7 days. We inquired on July 2...

So...if anyone is thinking of renting in the Blue Ridge area of northern GA, let me know...and I'll let you know the name of the person we rented from.

Happy Vacationing to all!