July, 2010
Luxury Life Magazine
Villas by Linda Smith
Linda Smith is rightly considered the foremost expert of luxury villa rentals in Jamaica. Year after year, she wins numerous awards from top travel organizations. When seek-ing a staffed villa vacation, there can be a dearth of information and of knowledge-able representatives. But Linda and her team ill this niche with honesty, professionalism and product knowledge.
As one travel journalist wrote, "Once you've stayed in one of Linda's private villas, you'll never go back. That is, you'll never go back to another vacation style again!"
Most of the private homes in the Villas by Linda Smith collection are located on an excellent stretch of Jamaica's lovely north coast within a 10-mile span of the color-ful town of Montego Bay and the inter-national airport, enabling guests to reach their holiday home within twenty minutes. Eleven are on pristine Discovery Bay and seven are oceanfront in lively Ocho Rios. Travel & Leisure has dubbed this renowned north coast the Jamaican Riviera and for good reason. It is beautiful and safe. And it offers an enviable mix of activity, privacy and a remarkably therapeutic taste of The Good Life.
Each of Smith's villas comes with its own private pool and a dedicated staff trained personally by Smith herself, in-cluding a chef, butler, housekeeper and even a personal laundress so everyone lies home with suitcases of clean clothes. While hand-picked for their luxurious accommo-dations and superb staff, each home also has the advantage of proximity to beaches, world-class golf and tennis, water sports, spas, galleries, kids' clubs, shops and enter-tainment … even zip lines, ATV adventure tours and swims with dolphins. Yet each residence is designed to ensure the level of privacy and security expected by the most discerning travelers.
Smith is pleased to say her most fre-quent clients are three-generation families: grandparents and parents, teens, toddlers and infants. Smith's villas are child-friend-ly, many with connecting bedrooms, and Jamaican nannies are beloved. Far from the limitations of hotels, these actual homes work for all age groups and have become legend for family reunions.
A typical day starts while guests are still asleep. The butler quietly places a heat-ed thermos of steaming Jamaican coffee on the verandah or outside the bedroom door. A hot breakfast is served when all guests are ready. A typical breakfast may include fresh-squeezed orange juice and local fruits, banana fritters or plantain ~ and, of course, eggs, bacon, pancakes or cereal. Fabulous home-cooked meals are one of the highlights of every day. Guests look forward to their chef 's own mix of Ja-maican specialties including, but not lim-ited to delicious homemade soups, salads and desserts; grilled lobster and tenderloin, coconut shrimp, jerk chicken, ginger pork, fresh ish and curried goat. (Pizza, burgers and fries are always an option … as well as macaroni and chicken ingers for the kids. Chefs are happy to feed youngsters early so parents can linger late over rare adult dinners.)
Herein lies one of the many beauties of the staffed villa vacation. Yes, dinner is served by a butler. But the commute is not by taxi or even elevator, simply from shower to bedroom to candlelit poolside table. Wardrobe is shorts and shirts, shoes optional. The food is fabulous. Children are nearby, well fed and happily watching DVD's or nodding off to sleep after hours of swimming, sailing and sand castles.
Linda knows stress-free luxury. She's the best at what she does and comes highly recommended from a cross section of the highest editorial boards. Whether for a week of family fun and reconnecting or snoozing in a hammock under a palm tree, Linda Smith and her team will customize a personal vacation that will leave you with memories to last a lifetime.
Luxury Life Summer 2010
