One of the best parts of my job is speaking with all the lovely Ellis Exclusive Villas home owners and guests on a daily basis.  I love to hear about it when my guests have enjoyed a wonderful holiday.

The story I’m going to share with you now is a really exciting success story.

Casa Amoré is a new vacation home we have recently taken on, located on the attractive and amenity-rich gated resort of Watersong in Davenport.

It was bought by a lovely British couple in July this year, after having been left to fall into a little disrepair.

Sue and Mark had a really clear vision for their home and the kind of quality environment they wanted to create for their guests, but they also knew that as first-time Florida property owners there was a lot they needed to learn.

They approached us to manage their home for them and together we devised a plan which would help the couple prioritise the work that needed to be done on the property to get it ready for rental.

In July, when the property became theirs, Mark and Sue kindly honoured the booking that the previous owner had taken and then got to work!  They spent three weeks at their vacation home this September and did a huge amount of work.

Every carpet has been deep cleaned, every bed has been replaced and new linens have been purchased for all the bedrooms and bathrooms.  The couple also invested in TVs for all the bedrooms, which is something that many guests expect now and also helps to widen the property’s appeal to groups, not only families.

The couple also redecorated some of the rooms, including the family room where they have installed a fabulous 65” TV.  Mark says: “We wanted to create a vacation home where our family would love to stay; the sort of place where we would go in and say ‘wow’.”

I think you’ll agree the couple have certainly achieved that!  And it has been an absolute delight to get to this point!

And the best news?  In the four weeks since the Orlando vacation home has been actively marketed the couple have already taken 27 weeks of bookings.

I couldn’t have wished more for them and they thoroughly deserve it.  I wish them every success.

To see more pictures of the new renovations or to book this vacation home, please click here.

Autumn is traditionally a time of plenty and of harvest celebration and there is no better place to celebrate and give thanks than at Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival, held every Fall at Disney World’s Epcot Center in Florida.

My mouth waters at the mere thought of it!

It is my favourite event at any of Central Florida’s theme parks.  This year’s festival began on 25^th September but there is still time to sample its delights – it runs until November 16^th.

Wish I was there!

My family are enjoying the delights of the festival as we speak and I only wish I was there with them!

I’m afraid to say that their reporting back from the show left a little to be desired however… their top tip was the fact they paid $10 for a Guinness!

However, I can heartily recommend the Greek stall – the food there is amazing and worth the trip alone!

The French section do amazing iced cocktails – wow – they are good.

And, best of all, this year also sees the return of the Scottish food stand.  And, yes, last time we were there we all enjoyed the haggis, neeps and tatties.  Fantastic!

Truly there is a wealth of choice and you’d have difficulty eating your whole way around the world – although the Orlando Sentinel has had a go at it for you!

What you need to know

Mid-week is a great time to go.  This festival also attracts a lot of locals so the weekends can get busy.

Most Epcot International Food & Wine Festival events are included with admission to the Park, but several experiences do require a separate admission fee.  This includes the food and refreshment samples, entry into Premium Experiences and entry into Cultural Dining Opportunities.

However, the Eat to the Beat concerts are included with the normal price of admission.  There are still some great acts from the 80s and 90s due to play including Tiffany on the 24^th and 25^th of October, Boyz II Men on November 2^nd and 4^th, Maxi Priest on 13^th  and 14^th November and Chaka Khan on 15^th and 16^th November.  See the complete line-up here.

If you want to be seated near the stage then we do recommend getting there early – as much as an hour or more before the concert is scheduled to start.

Most food choices will set you back around $3 – $8 – so you won’t need an astronomical amount of spending money.

What to do before you go

A few simple steps to get the most from the festival:

• Prebook your Epcot and other Disney tickets through Ellis Exclusive Villas and you can get great discounts on the cost of your admission.
• Book special events in advance – this includes the mixology seminars, culinary demonstrations, celebrity chef events and dining packages.
• Download the festival map
• This year, Disney is partnering with Facebook to offer a special notification service for iOS phone users when you’re at the festival. You’ll need to turn on Bluetooth and enable location services for your Facebook app, then you will receive exclusive festival updates in your Facebook newsfeed.  It will be interesting to see how well this works!

Fancy the festival but can’t make it this year?  We are already taking bookings for September/ October 2016.  If you book for Fall 2016 with Ellis Exclusive Villas before the end of this year’s festival – 16^th November – and quote the discount code EPCOT FOOD FEST we’ll give you a mouth-watering 10% discount off your booking.

Yum!

The Orlando amusement parks are not known for sitting still… and there are some amazing attractions opening soon that I’m really excited about… the new Frozen ride, the King Kong ride, Skyplex… my family is looking forward to them all!

But none more so that the Orlando Eye.

The 400-foot tall giant observation wheel has been scheduled to open in late spring 2015 for some time. But last week the new visitor attraction announced a May 4th Grand Opening and Early Bird tickets are now on sale.

From what we’ve seen of the pre-publicity, it looks spectacular.  On its website it is promising breathtaking views of Central Florida in all directions, with sights of downtown Orlando’s skyline, theme parks, lakes and lush landscape and, on a clear day, views of Cape Canaveral on the east coast.

Although tickets will be on sale onsite at the ticket office, we highly recommend that you purchase tickets before you go wherever possible (who wants to spend their vacation queueing in line, right?) and given the anticipation surrounding this latest addition to Central Florida’s many attractions, we think you can’t really book this one early enough!

The Orlando Eye is located on International Drive and is part of the new i-Drive 360 complex, which will have a series of staged openings throughout 2015.  The complex will eventually include shops, restaurants, a Madame Tussauds Orlando Wax Museum and Sea Life centre.

And if that doesn’t whet your appetite, check out this video of the view of the Orlando Eye location from a helicopter – which should give you a good idea of what you’ll be able to see from the top of the wheel:

What do you think?  Is this one for you?

Do you fancy drinking champagne together 400 feet above International Drive as the sun goes down?

Or taking the kids on the wheel for a spectacular view over Central Florida?

I can’t quite believe it is February already!  Just where did January go?  For me, it disappeared under a flurry of bookings.

Having just come out of a busy festive period, we are now almost fully booked for Christmas and New Year 2015.

So I hope this post works as a rallying cry for all my regular guests – please, if you want to spend the holidays in Florida in 2015, please get in touch to book soon!

Especially if you are a returning guest and you have a specific property in mind, it’s worth making that call to me today.

I know some property managers in Orlando will hold properties back until the festive period is nearly upon us and then release them at the last minute, when they know they can command astronomical rates from late bookers.

I’m personally not comfortable with that approach and that’s why Ellis Exclusive Villas don’t hold villas back.

At least, I’ve never done it before.  But after what happened this Christmas I am seriously considering holding a couple of villas back just for a personal insurance policy.  Not to command the astronomical rates; just to save myself paying them!

We had a – rare – last minute problem this year and I had to move a guest.  If you know me, you’ll know I will never let down a guest.  I think this makes me a bit of a rarity in the Florida rentals market.  I’ve taken so many last minute reservations over the years – even from people who were travelling with the big tour operators!

And if there is ever an issue with a property I’ve taken a booking for, I’ll always find a property of better spec for my guests in order to make up for the inconvenience of a last-minute change.

This Christmas – when something did happen – finding that other property turned out to be not only expensive, but almost impossible!

The trials and tribulations of a property manager, I suppose.  I did eventually locate a beautiful villa on the Champions Gate resort in the end.  But it did make me think about having an insurance policy this year… let’s hope that I won’t need it, but if I do, at least I will have planned ahead!

And I guess that’s what I’d like all my guests to do too: please start planning those 2015 Christmas and New Year breaks now and hopefully we can all avoid any festive disappointments!

With thanks & best wishes,

Our resident thrifty creative, my sister Sonya, has been busy renovating some bedrooms for our property owners again and I thought I’d share some of her handiwork here.

Sonya’s really crafty but she’s also really into keeping costs down to an absolute minimum for our villa owners – we want them to get the most return for their investment without having to spend silly money on expensive refurbs.  Sonya is great at this.

First, take a look at how she’s re-purposed these tired old pictures from the living room into some fun, Mickey-themed pictures for a new themed children’s bedroom.

Step 1: Remove glass and tape over the sections of the frame she wanted to keep pale grey.

Step 2: Spray black spray paint over all the ‘mahogany’-coloured woodwork of the frame and leave to dry.  NB: put plenty of newspaper down first in the area you’ll be using the spray paint!  The last thing we want are some unexpected repair or cleaning costs!

Step 3: In the first frame, Sonya replaced these tired old abstracts with some images from an old roll of retro Mickey Mouse wallpaper she found at a yard sale.

Step 4: In the second frame, Sonya used an image from the wallpaper in the central section, but can you guess what she made the Mickey Mouse silhouettes out of? They’re actually made from an old CD and a pre-loved balloon weight!

Finally, Sonya completed another frame with her trademark black spray paint and a super-cheap tshirt she picked up for next to nothing.  I hope you’ll agree that they look great and are a testament to Sonya’s incredible make-do-and-mend approach to injecting a bit of new life into our homes.

Thanks Sonya – great job!

Universal Mardi Gras is a 16-night party featuring a dazzling parade, Cajun food and live concerts from some of music’s biggest names.

If you’re going to be in Orlando between February 7 and April 18, it’ll be well worth checking out Universal Orlando for some extra-special Mardi Gras party atmosphere on selected nights between these dates…

Sign up here to get first notice about the acts who’ll be playing across these special 16 nights.

And to really put you in the party mood we’re pleased to announce a fantastic SPECIAL OFFER TO GET AN EXTRA FREE DAY when you buy a two-day ticket to Universal Orlando thanks to one of our Guest Services partners.

Ellis Exclusive Villas work with some great Orlando businesses to secure fantastic deals on all kinds of great days out and holiday extras for our guests.  And one of our partners is Kissimmee Guest Services, an attraction ticket booking agent based in Kissimmee.

Kissimmee Guest Services is now running a special offer on Universal Orlando tickets which Ellis Exclusive Villas Guests can benefit from: simply purchase a 2-day ticket for Universal in advance and you can qualify for a third day for free!  This can be applied to any 3 days within a 14-day period.  During the special Mardi Gras period, day tickets on the special Mardi Gras celebration dates will include access to the evening’s Mardi Gras celebrations at Universal Studios Florida.

You can find full details of all the terms and conditions on the Kissimmee Guest Services website, which you can reach via our ‘Attraction Tickets’ page.

If you have any questions or you would like to book this offer, you can also call Ellis Exclusive Villas on our main UK number: 0044 (0) 333 332 1411

We host some amazing and inspiring people in our villas.  Not least this group of college friends who now reconnect regularly – thanks to the power of Facebook and the Central Florida Tough Mudder events.

If you’re not familiar with the Tough Mudder concept it’s an opportunity to raise funds for the Wounded Warriors charity through 12 miles of teamwork and running with military-style obstacles thrown in.  And when we say military-style obstacles we’re talking barbed wire, dangling live wires and Berlin walls… Let’s just say it puts the Ellis Exclusive Villas team’s New Year’s resolutions about a health kick to shame!

The six members of the ‘Fear the Beard’ team pictured here (above) before embarking on the race are (back row, left to right) Ed, Conrad, Michael; (front row, left to right) Jason, Bryan and Mike.  Another three college buddies completed the team (and the Tough Mudder course), most of whom stayed at the Ellis Exclusive Villas holiday home “Jasmine” in Kissimmee.

Michael found us via Flipkey and said staying in a villa was much better than their previous year’s approach of all staying in hotels:  “Last year we all stayed in different hotels and meeting up after the race was more difficult.  This year we were all in the one spot.  The villa was just three miles from the race site so it was easy to head back there, take a shower, get the mud off, and then all play by the pool.”

If you’re wondering where the Fear the Beard team name comes from it was inspired by San Francisco Giants baseball star Brian Wilson, who sports a rather impressive beard of his own. Michael says it was just a bit of fun and an excuse not to shave for five weeks!  And it gave an extra dimension to washing the mud off after, we guess!

Although we have to say the boys really looked after our property and left not a trace of mud behind them.  It really was a pleasure to host them.

Happily, the feeling seems to be mutual because Michael told us: “We really appreciated the convenience of booking a villa, the great location, and the way the Ellis team took care of us.  They said they would give us a welcome pack, but we weren’t expecting the beer to be thrown in too!  We’d book again with Ellis Exclusive Villas in a heartbeat!”

Team Fear the Beard: congrats guys and we look forward to hosting you again this year!

We’re at peak season for pool heat at the moment.  Here’s 5 hacks to help you get the most out of it during your stay at an Ellis Exclusive Villas holiday home.

1. Book before you go

With any Ellis Exclusive Villa, pool heat is ALWAYS charged as an extra.  It’s worth thinking about whether you want it before you go because it takes a little while for the pool heat to heat up to the desired temperature.  If you book in advance we can make sure the pool is heated for your arrival.

Booking in advance also saves you a bit of money; if you don’t arrange it in advance, but do request pool heat during your stay we’ll charge you a call out fee in order to set it up for you.  So if you think you’ll need it, it is always better to book it in advance.

We recommend you do this for any holiday booked between October and March

2. Get the timings right

The pool heat pump can operate for a maximum of 8 to 10 hours per day.  We usually set it to operate from around noon to 9pm. If you would like us to adjust the settings to be more in line with your routine, then please let us know in advance.

3. Remember it is a swimming pool – not a bathtub

Pool heat won’t heat the pool up to the temperature of a warm bath!  It is designed to take the chill off the water not to provide a tropical heat.  All pool heat is set between 83°F – 85°F.  If, when you arrive, you decide this temperature is not comfortable for you, then we can turn the pool heat off and will give you a refund for the unused days.

4. Be aware that a sudden chill will switch it off

A sudden drop in climate temperature will affect the pool heat.  This is because the pumps will automatically shut off if the temperature drops below 50°F (10°C).  Please be aware that the local property management team cannot override this as it is a security measure to prevent breaking the pool pump and refunds will not be given if this occurs.

5. Think carefully when deciding whether you need to call us out

If pool heat is not working correctly, please contact our onsite management team.  If the pool heater is broken then a refund will be given for the number of days you are without the service.  But to provide this refund we need to be informed of this issue as soon as it occurs.  We can’t give refunds when pool heat issues are brought to our attention AFTER your stay – so please let us know as soon as you can.

However, if you do call us out about a problem with the pool heat and it is working correctly, then you will be charged a ‘false call out’ fee.

We, therefore, do encourage you to know what pool heat can realistically be expected to deliver (83°F – 85°F for about 8 to 10 hours per day) and assess whether this is what is being delivered… you would be surprised about the number of call outs we get asking for bath-warm water!

At dawn today, the Orion rocket was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida – heralding (so we’re told by NASA) a new era in American space exploration.

You can see the launch here:

Elsewhere in Florida great things have also been launched into cyberspace: my new website!

After years of hard work (no, really), a very steep learning curve, and many, many lessons learned, we’ve finally gone live with my new-look site.  It hasn’t blasted off from the pad with quite the unstoppable momentum as Orion – you still won’t be able to make books directly on the site for another week or so, but I’m really excited nonetheless.

Feel free to take a look for yourself: www.ellisexclusivevillas.co.uk

Now, I’m not a space buff, so I didn’t realise the launch of Orion was scheduled yesterday (delays meant the launch was rescheduled for today).  But it seems serendipitous that such a high-profile launch should happen on the same day my website and blog have launched!

Let’s hope that Ellis Exclusive Villas will also be heading for a starry future before too long!