Villa Rental

tina1973

Hi All
Can anybody recommend a good website for renting Villas in Europe? Looking particularly at Greece but happy to look elsewhere. I've never rented one before and would appreciate any help and guidance on where to look.
Thank you in advance
T x

cherydee

We are going on our first villa rental soon with "Villa Plus" to Albufeira, Portugal and cannot wait...the grandchildren are so excited, especially about having their own swimming pool. Got all the info yesterday in the post with all our details for when we arrive. They have villas in quite a few countries...so we will see how we enjoy this one first.

tina1973

Thanks CherryDee. Going to have a look now! Enjoy your Villa Hol!
T x

Nordictat2

Give these a lookie...
https://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/Greece/r33.htm

https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/greece.htm

alba7

Hi cherydee

I'm looking into villa plus for a holiday to Mallorca next year. Could you let me know whether it's a good company to use? Easy to book, everything at the villa was as it should be etc.

I'd be very grateful!

alba7

stinky84

I usually use http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/ or http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/
Both of them have price and availability and you deal direct with the owners, booked a dozen or so over the last few years and never had any problems.

sillygoose

I have used Villa Plus twice and are going with them again this year in about 2 weeks time - Corfu! yeah!!!

The extensive pictures are great, all other providers could learn from this aspect - big time! I like to see how overlooked I am or if there is green space for the kids etc. Beware though that the pictures are often taken when the villa is first listed, so fixtures may be different. On the plus side often the gardens and screening hedges in the pictures were only just planted, by now they are often even better!

Their car hire is competitive they use good companies that won't rip you off, except for the price of child car seat hire, we take our own boosters, stick a tag on and take to the oversize luggage desk, they put them onboard for no cost.

The flights are competitive too, I have rarely found a much better deal (of comparable standard) so this makes it easy as you can plan and book the villa, flights and car hire all in one place so as a package it should all be ATOL covered.

Don't take out their insurance, you can delete it off the slightly 'clunky' booking online form, look on MSE you will find better value deals.
Also you won't need the 'welcome pack' not worth the price for some tea/bread/bottle wine. We delete off the flight options the fee to be seated together and just get to the airport in good time to check-in. Don't need the inflight meals either, take a sandwich to the airport for breakfast.

Its always a good idea though as with ANY holiday to take out insurance with cancellation cover as soon as you book, not leave it until later.

The flights are decent, usually Monarch airlines or such so you get full (5kg) hand and (20kg) hold luggage allowance for each passenger included in it.

The villas we had were superb, clean, well equipped and everything in good working order, when we had trouble with sun umbrella bases in the wind the rep got the owner to provide some better ones.

Everything seems to go smoothly the paperwork all arrives in good time and the local info and direction pack is excellent.

They charge 2% for paying balance by credit card but I use a 1% cashback card so I consider the 1% acceptable for making Capital One entirely liable too, might seem excessive but its a lot of money, I want all the cover I can get.

When looking around on the website, use the website 'Back' buttons not your browsers 'back' button as otherwise it has an annoying habit of forgetting where you were and giving you a blank screen.

Don't forget to experiment with different start days, it will usually put them on tabs at the top after a search, different villas will be available for different days you may like one especially if you can vary your day.

My view is Villa Plus is no a bargain, but its not unreasonable, its easy, reliable and a 'safe bet' for a great holiday.

alba7

Thanks sillygoose, that's a fantastic resume.

I usually use jamesvillas, who have always been excellent, but they're getting very expensive. I'm trying to find a slightly cheaper option for next year but without compromising on the holiday itself.

I'm also wary of new companies in case they turn out to be unreliable/collapse at the last minute. Your experiences sound very positive though.

Gemmy_2

http://www.optimavillas.com/

We'll be staying with the above very soon.
The communication has been spot on!

cherydee

alba7 wrote: »

Hi cherydee

I'm looking into villa plus for a holiday to Mallorca next year. Could you let me know whether it's a good company to use? Easy to book, everything at the villa was as it should be etc.

I'd be very grateful!

alba7

Yes, I'll certainly get back to you with my views on Villa Plus..... in about 4/5 weeks time. Check our villa out (Casa Jessy, Albufeira) There certainly not cheap and I think we picked the dearest day to travel...Sunday, but my daughter liked the look of this villa. All their villa's seem to have different days of the week to arrive and this is a Sunday one. We have only booked the villa and airport transfers through them and we have arranged our own flights with Easyjet ...so a bit nervous about not doing it as a package.

We have to be out of villa by 10am and our flight is not until 5pm .......so I will be rating them on their helpfulness in suggestions where we can store our luggage for our final day...especially as we have a 9 month baby, plus a 4 & 6 yr old.

sillygoose

There are quite a few rental companies and many people have some fabulous villas and holidays with them. Many are just introduction agencies really, some you pay the owner when you get there. My worst nightmare would be to arrive and the owner says he has sold it, get lost!

And not many seem to use an escrow service to hold the money until all parties are happy. The villaplus ones are directly managed by them and exclusive, they have their nameplate on the gates and there is a UK company you could take action against if needed, not just a booking agent, I don't fancy trying to chase a Greek bloke through Greek local courts for my losses.

Not saying it can't be done either way - its just a matter of weighing up risk against value to suit your own acceptance. Its purely personal.

I have actually found that the villa I am staying in this year is up for sale on a website but I guess that would apply to a lot of villas abroad - Sadly I don't have 450,000 Euro's to spare!