Wimco, the world's leading source for luxury villa rentals, suggests your own home in the Caribbean may be the best antidote to post-September 11th stress.

STAY AT HOME IN THE CARIBBEAN...

-- NEWPORT, RI, November 2001 -- The privacy of your own villa in the Caribbean this winter may be the best antidote to post-Sept. 11 stress, suggests Janis Gordon, spokesperson for WIMCO, the Newport, RI-based luxury villa rental and hotel reservations company.

“We have a sense from the strength of reservation requests that now more than ever people are looking for privacy and, to some extent, seclusion this winter. After all, sharing a private villa is the best way to really connect with the people who are important to you,” Gordon says.

Gordon says that requests for Caribbean villas are especially strong from the snow belt regions of the US where families want their usual fix of sun and surf but without the distractions of the public domain of hotels.

“Villas allow families to make their home wherever they are, where they can hunker down and cocoon by the sea,” she says.

WIMCO represents 680 villas on 10 Caribbean islands including St. Barts, Mustique, St. Martin, Anguilla, Nevis, Grand Cayman, the Virgin Islands and others.

These villas range in price per week from as low as $1,200 per week for a one bedroom villa in the Virgin Islands to over $25,000 per week on Mustique for a fully staffed, 9 bedroom villa. St. Barthelemy and Mustique tend to be the more expensive islands as regards rentals; however there are also moderately priced villas and good value available on these islands even during high season. WIMCO’s reservations agents know comparable prices from island to island and can direct a budget-conscious family to the best values.

WIMCO is more than just a reservation source and can serve as a concierge for people new to an island and who may need information on the best restaurants, beaches and more. While booking the villa, WIMCO can also suggest places to dine and even make reservations in advance.

When it comes to researching how and where to book a villa, WIMCO’s web site offers online villa availability and booking online for most of them.

WIMCO’s interactive website, www.WIMCO.com, was recently cited by Forbes.com as providing one of the best vacation rental sites in a recent “Best of the Web” category. Its depth of Caribbean and European inventory, detailed descriptions and photographs, accurate pricing and easy navigation were among the web’s attributes, according to Forbes.com.

This year WIMCO is celebrating its partner Sibarth’s Real Estate’s 25th Anniversary. A 25th Anniversary Commemorative Vendome Guide to St Barthelemy was published in March, featuring a must-read history of the events and people who have shaped the island in the past 25 years. This Vendome Guide also features over 200 distinctive private villa rentals on the island and the “inside” word on the latest hot and trendy restaurants that have earned St. Barts the reputation as the Gourmet Capital of the Caribbean.

For further information and/or to receive a copy of the Guide, write WIMCO, P.O. Box 1461, Newport, RI 02840; Tel: 401-849-8012, Fax: 401-847-6290, or visit the websites at www.wimco.com

WIMCO offers over 1,000 luxury villas and distinctive hotels and resorts internationally in such select areas as Italy’s Umbria region, France’s St. Tropez and elsewhere in the Caribbean (680 villas on ten islands including St. Barts, St. Martin, Anguilla, Mustique, Nevis, and others).