holidaylettings.co.uk

gobuddygo

Recently booked an apartment with the above website, just a heads up to watch out for the booking fee which is not actually mentioned until you have entered your credit card details (its not a credit card fee), I got stung for just under 12% which is extortionate, when I spoke to them about it I was told its anything between 5% and 15% and its in the small print so tough.



They do not give the exact fees up front which makes it impossible to compare prices without adding payment details.


I think ALL fees and charges should be displayed up front, Airlines now have to do this so why don't holiday lettings

stuartgh

I agree the booking fee is confusing. I checked myself as someone who advertises their property (in the centre of Leicester) on the Holiday Lettings website. Here's what their customer service advisor said in reply to my query:

Guests pay a booking fee of between 5 and 15%, which is calculated as a percentage of your rental cost.

This fee is completely variable and an automated system controls what the percentage is.

No-one has control over this booking fee and potentially, it could be different between each booking even for the same rental cost.

shazeroo

We advertise with Holiday Lettings and this policy was sprung upon the Owners with no warning and I, like many other owners, find it unacceptable that our guests are expected to pay such ridiculously high booking fees when they also get 3% of each booking from the owners. When we jointed, there was a flat rate booking fee of £30 which was acceptable, but now for a summer booking they are asking guest to pay around £75 in booking fees to them.. Needless to say we rarely get any business through them anymore - we pay to advertise with Owners Direct who don't charge any booking fees whatsoever to our guests. Most properties advertised on Holiday Lettings and Trip Advisor are usually also on Owners Direct or other websites and many have their own website - Google the name of the property and location and you should find it (or look on Facebook). Holiday Lettings are being ridiculously greedy and I imagine they will lose a lot of bookings because of this unfair policy, especially as they didn't even let their advertisers know about the changes!

melb

i have just cancelled my (free) listing on holidaylettings because the potential holidaymaker was paying a lot more than if they booked through owners Direct whereas i would have been receiving less.
I tried to send emails to the interested clients but both were blocked by Holidaylettings.

[Deleted User]

I use Holiday Lettings and have absolutely no complaint with them.
The bottom line as an owner is I don't care what the customer has to pay provided I get the same rental that I always did.
One of the benefits of using Holiday Lettings is that they're owned by Tripadvisor and you just can't buy that sort of worldwide exposure with sites such as Owner's Direct.
This year alone I'm booked solid with guests from nine different countries.This idea that people will be put off by the booking fees is nonsense - they prefer the reliability and security of dealing with a large company such as Holiday Lettings.
Welcome to capitalism baby.

[Deleted User]

melb wrote: »

i have just cancelled my (free) listing on holidaylettings because the potential holidaymaker was paying a lot more than if they booked through owners Direct whereas i would have been receiving less.
I tried to send emails to the interested clients but both were blocked by Holidaylettings.

That's because there are security measures included in the site to prevent owners being able to conduct private business with potential clients thus depriving Holiday Lettings of their commission.
But then you would have been told that when you signed up for your free listing.
How do you think they make their money ?

gobuddygo

Deleted_User wrote: »

Welcome to capitalism baby.

If you read my original post I was not complaining about the cost, I was complaining about them not being up front about the charges. I wont be booking through Holidaylettings ever again or adding reviews to Tripadvisor it wont make a difference until more people vote with their feet.

mchale

Deleted_User wrote: »

I use Holiday Lettings and have absolutely no complaint with them.

Not all holiday home owners are happy with the commissioned based payment site's have a read through some comments here:

http://www.laymyhat.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=12&sid=2b5a2359ca6174753dbf25b48d88e432

Stratos

As someone who's tried to book via Holidaylettings, you can see why they try and keep you from communicating with the owner outside of their website
BUT
It's a very strange arrangement to book a holiday rental in just 10 days time and agree to have £655 taken from my account if the owner accepts then sit and wait for 24 hours only to hear nothing and have the agreement automatically cancel after that time. We spent yesterday morning looking for a suitable rental, booked it and then 24 hours on we were back to square one and one day closer to our proposed break and unable to contact either the owner or Booking site except via email, to which we've had no reply.
For this to work successfully both owners and renters need to be happy with the way it runs.

melb

My point was that the customer was paying more and I was receiving less. I was not happy with the customer being overcharged and me being underpaid but I agree with you when you say how do I think they make their money