I'm worried about booking an apartment/villa direct

poet123

I just sent an enquiry via Owners Direct and this;


Sign up within 10 days of sending your deposit

For just 7% of the trip value you can benefit from protection against:

• Fraudulent advertising
• Listing significantly not as described
• Trip cancellation
• Legal expenses
• Curtailment
• Medical Expenses / Repatriation

appeared so it seems as if this would allay your fears somewhat.

BoxerfanUK

Hope you don't mind but i'm copying a post I made on another thread in answer to a question about alternatives to owners direct.

Try booking with www.villarenters.com they have a much better set up where you pay villarenters and not the owner. You are much better protected as they hold onto your payments until after your holiday. They also encourage all property owners registered with them to manage their properties properly and this is done via a points system. The more points a property owner gets the higher up the rankings their property gets listed. Things like an owner cancelling on someone thats booked counts as negative and the property owner will lose points for this, as well as if they don't keep their calender and bookings up to date. You have far more security as a holiday renter by booking through them. You can pay a deposit and don't pay in full until 8 weeks before departure.

I am not associated with villarenters the company in any capacity other than that I have a property in North Cyprus that I advertise with them, so I know the set up and how secure it is both for owner and renter.

Villarenters are owned by the Daily Mail and Teletext holidays.

Hope this helps.

miamoo

Brilliant thanks, I will check out that site. The insurance looks perfect I wasnt sure I would be covered on the normal cover we have, but that states specifically for villa rental so thats ideal.

lagoslife

It is highly unlikely that an owner will accept payment on arrival due to the risk of 'no shows', especially during peak season when good properties are in demand.

If you are worried book with an abta bonded travel agency, use a credit card or buy insurance that covers end supplier failure.

Choose a property that is established and a proven track record.

ferf1223

miamoo wrote: »

I'm not going to pay a £200-£300 non refunable deposit and then decide I fancy a different villa after all! I'm not made of money!

Then ideally you would be certain about your choice before paying the deposit.

If I owned a villa, I would certainly expect committment from those booking...I'd assume that some of these folks count on the income from their villas to be able to pay their bills and such. And to be honest, I would be wary of anyone who would accept the majority of payment on arrival...what incentive would they have to be sure the villa was ready and waiting for you if there was no guarantee you would even turn up? I've not gone the villa rental route personally, but pre-paying would seem to be a lot more secure to me than paying a small amount and hoping that it all worked out OK when I arrived.