Advice please, villa isn't a villa

Debras_Angel

I'm with the OP on this as you could easily believe this was the whole building. I will definitely double check whenever booking a villa. I personally wouldn't enjoy my holiday if this had happened to me.

Icequeen99

Coosh wrote: »

Dunroamin i really dont understand why u feel u need to be so rude and personal. i am none of those things and im not a he either. I didnt do nothing about it while i was there i sought advice on here. i didnt want to make my holiday unpleasant by falling out withh the ownersliving above me. how could i cancel it when i didnt know until i got there and had nowhere else to go? Thanks to those who have given me advice rather than sniping..this was my first post here..i didnt really expect it to be like this

From what I had read I was half expecting to see an advert that was a bit ambiguous. Actually the owners direct description has not even a hint that the owners are there and it isn't the whole villa.

If it were me I would have refused to stay - i think it is terrible it is so misleading.

IQ

mrscb

I have rented villas the past few years, and have actually considered the one the OP stayed at. Once I find a villa I do a lot of googling.. Telephone numbers, villa name, owners name and google earth it to see what comes up and other places the villa is advertised, especially as booking direct normally means paying money to a complete stranger.I also keep in regular contact with the owners as often I have many questions. Although the Owners Direct ad didnt mention the owners being there a bit of time on the Internet would have possibly brought this to their attention.

photome

mrscb wrote: »

I have rented villas the past few years, and have actually considered the one the OP stayed at. Once I find a villa I do a lot of googling.. Telephone numbers, villa name, owners name and google earth it to see what comes up and other places the villa is advertised, especially as booking direct normally means paying money to a complete stranger.I also keep in regular contact with the owners as often I have many questions. Although the Owners Direct ad didnt mention the owners being there a bit of time on the Internet would have possibly brought this to their attention.

Thats exactly what I would do.

It seems the OP didnt and went by the one ad on owners direct.

wonder if she has been in touch with owner

usignuolo

Ignore Dunroamin some people are just picky. Most of us here are very helpful.

Well I don't think the onus should be on the renter to act detective and check whether the property appears on other similar rental sites with different descriptions. It should be sufficient to look at the original advert and take from there.

Over the years I have stayed in lots of rented properties overseas (and in the UK). I used to rent from a company called Villas Abroad and it was always quite specific if the owner lived on or near the property or even in part of it.

A Villa is a villa and generally accepted to be a stand alone property. It may well be subdivided into two floors or apartments for renting out but this is always made clear in the letting ads or has been in properties I have rented on the Med.

Often there is a chart with tick boxes for the features which will indicate if the property is self contained, part of a larger property and if the owners are on site, nearby or living in part of it.

In this case I would have expected the description to say something like "self contained ground floor of a larger property, the owners live on the upper floor and are site for part of year."

And that I suspect is the nub of the matter, sometimes they are there and sometimes they are not, but they do not want to put people off by saying they are, so they do not mention the fact either way. Deliberately ambiguous and misleading I would say.

And are you saying that what appear to be reviews from satisfied customers are all actually written by the owners and there is no feedback from customers?

poet123

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spainb/S7242.htm#property-description

If the above is the link I think it is a very misleading ad if the whole villa is not what you get. I would not have been happy either, but I would have mentioned it when I was there. As for the price, it is in keeping for those dates with others in the area and elsewhere in Spain. Prices have fallen, and are considerably less than others holiday spots in Europe.

As a comparison some time ago we stayed here:

http://www.holidayhomeads.com/Rent-Villa-Alegre-2-bedrooms-Villa

The price is £600 pw high season for the whole villa with private pool and games room.

I think it is too late for the OP to do more than write to the owner and explain their disappointment and if they get no satisfaction leave a review everywhere possible reflecting their experience. I think the owners are on very dodgy ground legally with their descriptions and as they also have an address in London you could try the SCC however, as it was not brought up at the time it is unlikely to go in your favour unless you can make a case mitigating why that happened.

Floop1977

I'm with the OP, I would have felt a bit cheated too.

The owner of the villa has omitted relevant information on the advert, and it cannot be accidental, they have deliberately chosen not to state something which makes a material difference to a person's holiday - no doubt to increase interest and therefore potential revenue.

Just because there are further websites out there that market the villa, which DO mention the occupancy, doesn't make it right.

An analogy might be buying something like a laptop from a shop where it states it "comes with a charger" - I'd expect it to come with a UK plug, that is what I'd expect to get. If I received the laptop and then I discovered it came with a charger for the USA, well yes it MIGHT be a charger but it is not the type that a reasonable person would expect to get. I'd definitely return the item and ask for what a reasonable person could have expected that to mean.

And just because other retailers might exist that give more specific information to clarify the point, doesn't change the fact that the information on the first retailer's website was insufficient and wrong by omission.

Caveat emptor, of course, but this only gets you so far. At some point you have to trust that the other party is being fair and reasonable.

Having said all this, there is almost certainly no mileage in trying to pursue the claim, as the property owner is in Spain, and no amount of amateur detective work trying to claw back money somehow will probably achieve much.

Hopefully the OP managed to enjoy the holiday, despite this situation happening to them. Life's too short to try and win battles with little chance of success, but I suspect the OP already knows this.