St. John Treasure Map owners Denise Barbier, far left, and Jenn Knowles, far right, pose with Catered To staff.
One lucky family will be living large in a luxury villa next summer thanks to St. John Treasure Map and Catered To…Vacation Homes.
Launched by Jennifer Knowles and Denise Barbier last year, the St. John Treasure Map has proven to be a popular activity for numerous visitors. Both a guide to the island and an actual activity which takes people across the island to find answers to several riddles and questions, the map has also been popular with local businesses.
Each family which completed all five of the treasure hunts and solved the riddle was eligible for a chance to win a free trip back to St. John, complete with a free villa, rental car, gift certificates to local eateries and more.
Out of the six villa management companies which advertised on the map last year, Catered To was drawn at random to supply a week-long villa stay valued at $3,500.
In exchange for that, the villa will be featured on the Island Treasure Map website and Catered To…Vacation Homes will also receive a complimentary ad on next year’s map, explained Knowles.
The family’s name will be drawn in mid-December, so someone is surely in for an early holiday present in a few months.
This is the last year the treasure hunts will be used as a basis for the Treasure Map give-away. Barbier and Knowles have been busy getting the 2011 St. John Treasure Map organized and have devised a new way for people to win a return trip.
Instead of filling out a treasure hunt, participants will share their favorite photographs of St. John, which will be posted on www.IslandTreasureMaps.com, and the public will vote for a winner each month. At the end of next year, one name out of the 12 photography winners will win the St. John vacation.
“We got a lot of feedback this year,” said Knowles. “People loved the treasure map. The only issue was that people didn’t want to spend five days of their vacation doing all of the treasure hunts.”
“So we’re keeping the activities and we’re adding a few like a retail crossword puzzle and a restaurant word search,” Knowles said.
There are still treasure hunts on the map, three in the new version instead of five, and Knowles and Barbier plan to expand their website with YouTube videos and more.
So keep an eye out for the new St. John Treasure Map and check out www.islandtreasuremaps.com to see what’s new at the website. For more information call Knowles at 626-255 or Barbier at 643-3110.
