Have you ever booked a villa/apartments direct with the owner?

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MSE_Jenny
MSE_Jenny Posts: 1,312 MSE Staff
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in Overseas holidays & travel planning
Hi guys,

We're looking for some examples of people who booked villas/holiday homes direct from the owners on sites such as Tripadvisor. How was your experience? How much was it and how many people went? Thank you!
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  • littlereddevil
    littlereddevil Posts: 4,752 Forumite
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    We booked through Tripadvisor a 2 bed, 2 bath penthouse condo in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for 3 weeks over Christmas/New Year. There were only 2 of us so plenty room and it cost us around £2500. The owner was very easy to deal with and the condo was just amazing.
    travelover
  • MSE_Jenny
    MSE_Jenny Posts: 1,312 MSE Staff
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    littlereddevil, that sounds incredible, sitting here very jealous. How much do you reckon a similar level hotel might have cost you nearby?
  • Shimrod
    Shimrod Posts: 1,069 Forumite
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    I've booked holiday cottages/apartments through Tripadvisor (France), VRBO (Canada) and direct (Iceland). There have never been any problems with the bookings, although paying the deposit for the Canadian properties involved a phone call to pay by credit card which gave some timing issues.

    We generally travel as a couple, although we always book larger accommodation than needed - at least two bedrooms as we appreciate the space over staying in a hotel room. Prices have varied but we aim for no more than £100 per night - which might sound expensive compared to a hotel, but we see savings in not having to eat out and enjoy the more relaxed environment.
  • motorguy
    motorguy Posts: 22,473 Forumite
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    Not sure if this is the sort of thing you're talking about but we go to Lanzarote a couple of times a year and book through https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk

    We've found a villa we like and have been twice to it last year, and going out again twice this year.

    Its a large 2 bed villa, pool, private site and great facilities, 15 mins walk into the resort of Playa Blanca and costs us £595 a week. Flights are £200 ish each, and a hire car a further £100.

    Happy to provide more detail if required.
  • happyandcontented
    happyandcontented Posts: 2,768 Forumite
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    We have booked numerous villas over the years via agents and via owners, never had a problem. We have stayed all over Florida, Spain, Portugal and Italy.
  • lady1964
    lady1964 Posts: 955 Forumite
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    We've booked villas in Spain & Cape Town and apartments in Portugal and San Francisco through, from memory, Owners Direct. This was several years ago however but we had no issues at all. I think for the Spain & Portugal ones we had direct contact with the owners, who were English, for the other two, they were managed by local agents so we had to go to an office to collect keys. We had no problems at all with any of the bookings we made in terms of payments, although I think the Cape Town & SF ones were a little more involved than the Europe Ines.

    For a family of 5 as we were then, it worked out cheaper and much more spacious than getting two hotel rooms. We used to book a 3 bed as we could split our 3 DD's according to who got on best with each :-)
  • jackomdj
    jackomdj Posts: 3,073 Forumite
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    Numerous times to France. Booked with English owners, French owners who spoke English and last year with a French man who spoke no English at all. All of them have gone without any problems. The only worry was the French villa last year was through HomeAway who remove the villa from their site once all availability has gone, it made us panic a bit. Google translate became our friend, although we both talk a little French anyway.
  • EssexExile
    EssexExile Posts: 6,138 Forumite
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    We usually find houses in America lately through Homeaway (VRBO) but then deal direct with the owner. Stating a price is a bit pointless without saying exactly where & when they were. We've never had any problems. Some you have to pick up the key from the managing agent, some there is a key safe at the property.
    Tall, dark & handsome. Well two out of three ain't bad.
  • sandsy
    sandsy Posts: 1,720 Forumite
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    Booked properties in France and South Africa direct with the owner. I check lots of websites first, including Tripadvisor, to try and ensure they are genuine. I also check sites in the relevant country, if possible. But in the end, I tend to book direct rather than through any of the third party sites.
  • littlereddevil
    littlereddevil Posts: 4,752 Forumite
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    MSE_Jenny wrote: »
    littlereddevil, that sounds incredible, sitting here very jealous. How much do you reckon a similar level hotel might have cost you nearby?

    A hotel would have cost us £300 a night over the festive period! Room only
    travelover
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