Booking a villa privately - how to pay ?

Kev64

Hi,

We're planning on booking a villa for the first time ever, privately, from one of the thousands on holidaylettings.com. We've found one we like and have exchanged emails with the owner, but they are asking for the payment to be made now (it's less than 6 weeks away) and by bank transfer. Once they have the money, they will tell us how to get there and how to get the keys etc. The owner seems genuine and I have no reason to suspect they are dodgy in any way, but..... I am naturally very reluctant to just transfer over £600 into someone else's account with nothing to show for it bar a few emails.

Is this how it's normally done ? They don't take credit cards, but they will accept Paypal (after I asked).

As I say - all this is new to me, so I don't know if I'm being a bit paranoid - but I can't get my head around the idea of handing over large sums of money to a complete stranger on the strength of an advert on a website and a few emails.

Does anyone else have experience of booking privately ? How did it work with you ?

Cheers !

Leper

Booking privately can be a daunting experience, but after you’ve done it, it is likely that you will never book a package holiday again because of what you will save. It is not unusual to pay in full 6 weeks in advance of your holiday. You are taking a minute chance, but a chance nonetheless.
For peace of mind you could try contacting the owners of the website who will confirm that other bookings were achieved through the site for the same holiday home owner. Also, if you were talking on his/her telephone land-line (and you know the number) can be a bit reassuring.
You may be asked for a deposit against breakages and damage also. This is not unusual. Remember the apartment owner is taking a bigger chance than you (no offence).

zippot

we have a villa we rent out in spain and we ask for a deposit then the full balance 6 weeks befoe hand

terryw

Fraud with non- existent villas is becoming more common. There is another thread running at the moment on MSE.

Here is an article from this week's Moneymail

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2638493

ailuro2

It's for this reason we have used https://www.villarenters.com a few times now - they use a third party to take the money and hand it on to the owners, you can pay in your own currency too, without needing foreign bank transfers or special cheques that you need to order and pay extra for from the bank.

Have a look and see if the property is on there.

We were stung by this in Canada, the owner said his bank wouldn't cash our cheque without extra charges even though we had paid about £20 extra for the cheque, he wanted us to pay his bank charges too, though that wasn't what we agreed.

He phoned the condo we were in every single day we were there (we ignored it, he had been given all the money agree to in the contract and we weren't giving him any more) so I'd not book anything again without a third party buffer, iyswim.

Good Luck, hope it all works out well for you.:)

lagoslife

Thousands of people book holidays direct each year and there are relatively few scams in relation. However they do exist so you are being sensible with your concerns as scams do happen.

Asking for full payment 6 to 8 weeks before is common practice, but you should be aware that bank transfers offer little protection.

Paying by credit card or Paypal (to some extent) offers more protection (than cheque, bank transfer) but you should take some steps before you send your hard earned cash to a stranger.

Phone the owner, do they have a land line? how long have they been advertising on holiday lettings - weeks, years? Can you contact past guests to verify them.

There is some further advice here;
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2500269

Like I said it's standard practice, but do your research.