Agencies who let prperties in the UK

hildamay1

Following the demise of Lowcostholidays I did wonder what about the agencies that have sprung up in the last few years renting out cottages in the UK and overseas. As a consumer I use them and pay the deposit at the time of booking and then the balance weeks before the holiday. As a proprietor of 2 holiday lets I have also been forced to use them (as although previously I was one of the top lettings on the search engines the money that they spend on optimisation has pushed me almost off the page).
I do not get paid for the holiday until the guests have been here for almost a week and sometimes even after they have left -Holiday Lettings which is now under Trip Advisor especially. Both of my properties are booked for Christmas and guests have paid quite big deposits but I will not see a penny until the New Year at least. I have looked at the sites advertising self catering lets and cannot see anything equivalent to ABTA. Are consumers or indeed owners of holiday lets protected if these companies go the same way as Lowcostholidays?

Alan_Bowen

There are a number of trade associations but I don't believe any of them offer financial protection schemes, mainly because ownership is scattered amongst thousands of owners and insurers are not sure how to calculate the risk of failure.

Some very large operators such as Hoseasons and Cottages.com are members of ABTA but before you rush and assume your should change agents, ABTA allows companies that are only selling accommodation to opt out of financial protection( I haven't checked either of those businesses) and ABTA only protects the consumer, not the supplier.

There was a new group formed of a number of separate agencies called Love Cottages at the beginning of 2016 and they do set standards and I think throw owners out if they don't comply with the rules but I think they only take on agencies rather than owners themselves but it might be worth taking a look