Holiday Lettings Advice

lisle

I have made an enquiry for an apartment through Holiday Lettings. The apartment is available and the owner had requested that I send a cheque for the full amount to them as the arrival date is within the next 6 weeks.

I'm just a bit wary as they haven't sent me a booking form, just an address for the cheque. Any suggestions as to how I can check everything is legitimate!

Thanks

Lisle x

essential

I don't know how you can check but if it provides you with some reassurance I can say that I have used Holiday Lettings in the past without any problems.

The lady we rented an apartment from provided a landline number that we called to make the initial booking. We then got her home address so we could send her the deposit cheque (she also provided us with a bank account name, number and sort code so we could make a direct transfer if we wanted).

I just figured that if anything went wrong then we would have enough information to make a criminal complaint to the police.

As it happened she turned out to be a lovely person and we had a fabulous holiday in her property. So much so that we have stayed in touch by email and have booked to stay in her apartment again this summer.

fiscalfreckles

I've used them too a couple of times without any problems. They usually do send some sort of contract or receipt after payment ( in fact you could ask them for this when you pay) and, as essential says, make sure you have all their details.

It is a bit random, dealing with strangers like that, but I think you can get a feel for whether they are the sort of people you can trust from how they deal with your initial enquiry and the tone of their emails/phonecalls. Some owners in the past have just not replied at all to me, and I don't chase them up as I discount them as disorganised & inefficient! But I have dealt with some lovely owners, who are friendly & chatty and been very helpful about our holidays overall. Check if the property has any reviews as these may reassure you. And its a good idea to keep copies of all emails and correspondance.

mchale

Normally some where on the ad its says how long they have been advertising with HL, if they have only just joined be weary

lagoslife

Full payment for bookings within 6-8 weeks is standard practice.

I would also ask for the booking terms and conditions.

There is also some good advice on researching owners/protecting payments when booking holiday rentals here;
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2500269