Who Will I Book My Holiday Villa With – The Owner Or A Reputable Agency? by Helen Cobb

Travel specialist Helen Cobb asks what are the hidden dangers of choosing the cheaper option of booking your holiday rental accommodation through an agency or directly with the owner.

Now here comes the toughest step. Where and with whom do you select you holiday accommodation? The internet over the last 4 years has seen two key sources emerge.

The first is a holiday accommodation rental agency. A reputable agency ensures that each and every one of their properties listed has been inspected and carries an accurate description of the property and its surroundings.

The other most popular source is to find your property through one of several websites that merely list the owner's properties and you can book through the owner direct.The obvious advantage to you the customer is that you buy direct from the owner which is often cheaper than booking a through an agency.

The author's aim of this article is to raise awareness of some of the potential "hazards" that you may find unacceptable when booking direct with an owner therefore the author wants to ensure you're not let down and your hard earned holiday is ruined.

Here are some key things to bear in mind when making your choice:

Q. Will an owner be honest and transparent enough to upload truly representative pictures of the exterior and/or interior of their home and then write in the description that the pictures have actually been cleverly taken to make the property look better than it is reality?

A. Unfortunately experience has shown clients have turned up at a property they rented direct from an owner and in real life the property looked completely different/worse than the pictures on the internet. They often discover the owner had put for example a picture of reasonable en-suite bathroom but none of the other bathrooms were shown on the website and they were ghastly – Or the furnishings and decor were very "old and tired" and the pictures on the website had been taken a number of years ago.

Q. Do you think the owner will be completely honest and frank in his/her description of the property and state exactly what the property and its locale are like?

A. Once again the tales I hear of customers arriving to find that the description the owner made on the internet was in many respects different from what they experienced upon arrival. Sometimes worse than that the owner has seemingly purposely omitted to include key pieces of information that may have influenced the decision to book the property – for example the property has a noisy railway line nearby or perhaps is under the flight path of a local airport etc.

Q. Would you expect from the owner to be provided with some key services to make you really feel you are on holiday? OR will you arrive at the villa – and face being greeted by a dark lifeless home and a lengthy instruction manual which you need to sit and read through for half an hour to work out how everything works!

Do empty cupboards and refrigerator await you (or if you're lucky stocked with some cheap wine, bread and milk) resulting in you spending the first day of your holiday visiting the local mall do get food and drink?

A. Reputable agencies will have a "meet and greet" service at the airport and/or at the property. They will provide a personalized tour explaining how things work and provide you with a good back up service during your stay. An advance shopping list can be carried out on your behalf and be delivered and stored for your convenience.

Q. You're very unhappy with the holiday accommodation you purchased and want compensation. What do you do?

A. Experience has shown that you would find it very difficult to cost effectively get some form of compensation directly from an owner. However if the owner is listed with a reputable agency he/she will be more inclined to offer compensation in the unlikely event something was not up to scratch. Primarily because he would be contractually obliged to do so and secondly he doesn't want jeopardise his established rental income.

If you pay by credit card through an agency (owners are unlikely to have this facility) you may complain to your credit card issuer and make a "claw back claim" of some or all of the monies paid on the premise that you have not received the goods/service you paid for. Agencies need good feedback and referrals to survive – owners operating on their own are able to be more anonymous and are less reliant on word of mouth and referrals.

For the price daily price of a good bottle of wine a day you can reduce the risk of falling foul of these dangers and feel confident that the holiday home you booked is what you will find when you get there!

Helen Cobb is a travel specialist #1 and has been looking after her villa rental customers for over 15 years. Helen and her team at Luxurybreaks #2want to ensure that your next holiday villa rental experience is one to remember for all the RIGHT reasons.

Before you book your next holiday vacation home, make sure you check out Helen Cobb the travel professional's excellent free article on why paying less direct with an owner could end up costing you more in the long run.