Following on from my post about booking a hotel direct or through a third-party, tonight I received an email asking me why I always mention hotels and do not talk about other types of accommodation like apartments, villas etc. Good question.
Budget hotels for me
The preference of accommodation comes down to your personal needs and as I have mentioned before, I just need somewhere that is budget, clean, has a shower, television and a bed. I spend very little time in the room, and want to be out their exploring.
So, the luxuries of a private villa or apartment do not interest me.
Disclosure: I used to run an accommodation website, primarily because my dad had an apartment and villa in Spain. I have some knowledge of renting accommodation, and it is a subject that I probably need to write more about from a consumer’s perspective.
Consumer concerns
My dad received a lot of concerned enquiries from consumers, who wanted to rent his accommodation but, they were worried that they would turn up and find an empty field and no villa or apartment.
The chance of that is probably very remote but it does make you wonder if more should be done to control the number of accommodation rental sites, and also make them accountable should a consumer find that they are stranded without any accommodation.
Lack of holiday protection
Credit crunch or not it is important that consumers think about protecting their money before jumping into spending it on renting a villa or apartment. If you book through the owner very few of them will allow you to pay by credit card, so you receive no protection there.
Holiday accommodation association
Maybe this sounds extreme, but, there are thousands upon thousands of holiday accommodation listing websites, maybe we need to see some sort of “trust” association set up where consumers can feel comfortable booking their apartment, villa etc with companies in that association.
I am sure travel agencies will simply say book with us, we are ATOL bonded, but I am interested to hear thoughts on this topic from either consumers or from people within the travel industry, it could be an interesting debate.
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Gennaro | 15 January, 2009 at 5:26 am
I like the idea of a trust association. An independent group that certifies apartments and villas in order to ensure that it’s legitimate. With the Internet it should be reasonably easy to track each country and locale with local representation certifying different places.
Darren Cronian | 15 January, 2009 at 6:08 am
@ Gennaro
There lies probably part of the problem/challenge, certifying properties that 1) do not belong to the listing site and 2) cost involved in doing that.
Garri | 15 January, 2009 at 7:33 am
Rule of thumb for me is to go through the listing sites that charge the owners to list, such as Holiday Rentals and Holiday Lettings. Whilst that shouldn’t be taken as a guarantee I do agree there should be some sort of certification. The whole scene seems to be unregulated, which is why we’ve often gone through villa specialists in the past.
Julia | 15 January, 2009 at 10:16 am
2 years ago I booked an apartment from a UK accommodation site, one of the ones you mention Garri. My contract was with the UK owner, it was a Spanish property. I signed and agreement and payed by cheque to the owner, before arrival.
The apartment was lovely, exactly what we wanted, great. Then, on the first night the Spanish management company of the apartment block turned off our electricity and a few other units.
We had not hot water, no air-con, no power, so no lights at night, no way to cool, all the food we had purchased (august and 2 small children) for 5 full days, until it was sorted out between the owner and the Spanish Management company (late payment of maintenance fees of something).
Nothing we could do but make the most of it. The owner refunded us the days we were without power on our return. I would only book in future, through a property that had an overseas office with staff to assist in the resort.
My point is, is that independent travel is great when it works out, but when it goes wrong, it’s hard to know who to turn to.
Julia | 15 January, 2009 at 10:37 am
Reading that back, its is not clear. The Spanish Management company had nothing to do with the letting or looking after guests. It was purely managing the maintenance of the block for the UK owners.
Jenny | 15 January, 2009 at 11:36 am
Interesting that consumers might *think* they are getting extra protection when booking through a rental listing site? I’m not sure this is necessarily so – as Julia points out, the rental contract will be between the owner and the holidaymaker, so not sure how listing sites can be made accountable in any way?
As a private rental owner, I agree that offering payment by credit card is a plus. We’re recent converts, mainly to make administration/payment easier for guests and ourselves (cut out costly international bank transfers from the UK). The added protection this offers consumers is something I perhaps ought to make more of in my advertising?
You float the idea of some sort of “trust” association. This might also be the way to go for private holiday rentals, which is (as yet) a largely – wholly? – unregulated industry.
Darren Cronian | 15 January, 2009 at 12:16 pm
@ Jenny
I don’t think anyone said that they are getting extra protection booking through a rental site, I thought I said (I will re-read my post) that holidaymakers don’t get any protection at all, other than booking the flight through an ATOL bonded travel agency.
When I say listing sites need to be made more accountable, what I mean is that they need to put out as many checks as they can to make sure the advertiser is a real owner, with a real property.
Jenny | 15 January, 2009 at 12:26 pm
@Darren
Hi, I probably didn’t put that very well…but I wonder how many consumers mistakenly think they might be getting some protection by booking through a rental site?
Garri | 15 January, 2009 at 12:29 pm
@Jenny: I wouldn’t expect extra protection for the simple reason owners have paid to be on a listing site but it would help me feel more comfortable, especially as these sites also publish the date the owner joined. That, couple with the direct link to the owners’ websites would allow me to carry out my own checks.
It’s still no guarantee, as Julia’s experience shows, but it’s all about trying to minimise your exposure to risk in the best way you can. Anyone can set up a free listing site and anyone can list on it.
Darren Cronian | 15 January, 2009 at 12:39 pm
@ Jenny
I would have thought many would think that there not protected, but, I think with the XL issue it has brought it out in to the open even more. Nearly all the ads mention ATOL protection.
@ Garri
Mm I think paid listing sites should be offering some form of protection or trust guarantee but it’s much more difficult for them to justify the cost. I have my own concerns about free listing sites but I don’t really want to get into that debate here 
Heather | 15 January, 2009 at 12:42 pm
We’ve rented properties across Europe and the US and have always been very happy with our choices. Some minor niggles here and there, but no real issues. For me as a renter, creating a relationship with the owner has been all important, making the phone calls and talking about the property; asking questions, and expressing concerns if there are any.
On the subject of trust, I would look for listing sites where renters can post reviews. flipkey.com has developed a great resource for people looking for professionally managed properties, and they are moving towards private listings too. vrwd.com marks properties with a Trusted Seal that denotes them as genuine. Its tough to regulate the hundreds of free listing sites and even more so to regulate the quality of privately listed properties on any site. This is a great topic but it’s one that will run and run…….!
Scott V | 15 January, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Trust is a big thing on the internet. I think more Vacation Rental Properties & Property Management companies need to incorporate a feedback system where past guests can rate and review their experience with the home.
Let the community or cloud decide and let the potential consumer make the decisions!
Sam Daams | 15 January, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Garri, that’s an interesting way of looking at it. I never thought of only choosing paid sites to choose this kind of accommodation. To be honest, I haven’t been burned yet booking a house or apartment abroad. Normally you are emailing directly with the owner, so that gives a sense of security.
One of the best places I’ve ever booked was done this way (beautiful beach place in the Cook Islands). I had to search google pretty hard, but managed to find some blog posts from others that had stayed there. So that added to the confidence factor.
In fact, if any of these sites automatically had a way to associate blog posts with a certain property, it would probably work really really well!
Rhiannon | 15 January, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Like Heather, my partner and I have rented properties direct from owner, and as yet have not got a horror story to tell. I always do my research though – I check out sites like TripAdvisor, phone the company involved and ask for what background info they can give. If I have any doubts at all, then I don’t book.
Like Garri, I stick to the paid listings sites. Our last trip was a week in Wales staying in a place we found on Holiday Lettings and we couldn’t have asked for better hospitality. When I phoned, the staff at the listing site were helpful and gave me as much info as they could.
I just find the whole experience so more personal. I always make a point of speaking to them several times on the phone before I part with any money and then keep up a relationship with them. Whether this is just me being naive I don’t know, but old fashioned values ooze trust.
I also have a good look at their availability, not just to see when I can go, but I feel that a booked up calendar speaks volumes. I also have a look to see how long they’ve been advertising on the site, if possible.
There is always the danger of an airline going bust, but as oil prices are falling I hope we won’t see that with such frequency this year. Although I guess now the new threat is falling passenger numbers. I digress, my point being that if you do do a DIY holiday you can still protect yourself against scheduled airline failure as this is now included by several insurance providers in their policies.
As Heather says, regulating rental listings sites since the properties are privately owned and this is a topic that will keep running. There will always be those for and those against. but it’s nice to see the subject being broached.
Jenny | 15 January, 2009 at 5:46 pm
@Rhiannon
“Like Garri, I stick to the paid listings sites”. I can appreciate that consumers feel very vulnerable, and I’m interested to read that homes listed on rental sites seem to inspire more confidence? Are you saying you would be unlikely to book with a rental property you found, say, on Google (if it were not also listed with a listing site)? It looks as though offering consumer reassurance is an area in which private rental owners have some ground to catch up?
Susan | 15 January, 2009 at 6:06 pm
@Heather I think sites which feature review are good and bad. I had an instance on Holiday Rentals, for example, where someone who never stayed here posted a very bad review. Fortunately I managed to get it removed, but it wasn’t easy. Reviews are subjective, and what pleases one renter won’t necessarily please another.
@Darren My properties are listed on many sites and I’ve never been asked for any proof of actually existing, but as Garri says, I’d be happier booking through the pay sites, like holidaylettings, rather than the free ones. I know HL have a policy of removing any adverts that misrepresent the property too, which is another benefit to the renter.
Heather | 15 January, 2009 at 6:31 pm
@Susan That’s why I like Flipkey because reviews can only be made by invitation.
Darren Cronian | 15 January, 2009 at 7:00 pm
@ All
Please let’s not let this post become a referral for sites, and discuss the topics. I would like to ask you all a question, feel free to pitch in either if you haven’t left a comment. I know some of you are shy and are reading this post 
For homeowners / listing sites:
TUI, Thomas Cook, are promoting their holidays as safe, book with ATOL, and no worries, do you not think this will have an impact on your bookings in 2009.
For consumers:
Do you still feel comfortable booking our own flight and accommodation, be it a villa, or hotel?
I think one of the most important points I made in the post was that most owners don’t accept credit card, and I think thats a massive downside of holiday rentals. If your a owner that does offer credit card payments then you need to promote that fact.
Jan | 15 January, 2009 at 7:06 pm
This may not apply to listing sites for homes in Europe but many that list private homes in Florida have a verification scheme where each owner has to send current utility bills that show both the US address and their home address to the site owners .They then check those details against the appropriate county records for the ownership so they know who owns each home listed. If the details don’t match they are removed. This gives both the site owners and the enquirers confidence that the home they want is owned by the contact listed. Many sites don’t charge for listing but take commission on bookings taken does this change peoples thoughts I wonder?
Garri | 15 January, 2009 at 7:09 pm
@Darren: you may find that many owners have Paypal accounts which allows consumers to pay by credit card even if they don’t themselves have a Paypal account. So in that sense, credit cards are accepted. Perhaps owners need to focus on the fact they take credit cards, and not focus on ‘we accept payments by Paypal’. Change of emphasis.
Susan | 15 January, 2009 at 7:44 pm
I try to take only credit cards, never really thought to promote it though. Good point, Darren, it does offer protection. But for a lot of owners, it can be quite an expensive way of taking payment.
Dom | 15 January, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Would I rent a villa from some stranger. No. Would I rent a villa from a company. Yes.
Rohan | 15 January, 2009 at 8:10 pm
We rent a cabin in Sri Lanka. We had problems with water, electricity, yes it was Sri Lanka but the owner was based in London. No body on location to help us. Weather was warm but no air con was not pleasant.
Darren Cronian | 15 January, 2009 at 8:19 pm
@ Garri
True, but PayPal is unknown to a lot of consumers (unless they use Ebay) but the interesting question is would PayPal refund the money if the consumer found that the villa was doubled booked or worse still was a scam.
Playing devils advocate here, but food for thought.
I stayed at my dad’s apartment, booked flight, but then I had the confidence that it was my dads’ place. Would I have booked an apartment direct with the owner, yes, if I was going with a group of friends.
I’m going to Berlin in March, booked my own flight and hotel, so not worried about not being protected, but that’s Berlin, the cost of a flight isn’t substantial.
Jan | 15 January, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Why not rent from a stranger whom you obviously don’t know but from a company whose workers you don’t know either?
I can only talk of experience of renting my home in Florida out but by law we have to have a licensed MC on hand to cope with any snags and at least by renting direct you have contact with the owner and are able to find out all about the home before you go and not some faceless person at the end of a telephone who knows nothing about the home you are renting.
As I said before in Florida it is easy to check the ownership details to put the renters mind at ease.
Darren Cronian | 15 January, 2009 at 8:33 pm
@ Jan
Do you inform potential consumers who are worried about booking the villa that they can find out ownership of the villa online?
Jan | 15 January, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Yes if they are worried I give them the county link so they can check for themselves.Also available is info such as if I have a mortgage and if I am behind with either of my taxes I have to pay annually which may signal the first steps to foreclosure.No such thing as data protection over there.
Jo | 16 January, 2009 at 7:42 am
Darren I 150% agree with trust. You can tell a lot from a phone call. Last year we found a villa but the owner was useless. Did not want to help us so we booked with James villas.
Denise Cooper | 16 January, 2009 at 8:18 am
We have rented a villa in Greece and whilst we loved having our own space not having someone closeby to deal with our issues was a problem.
Caroline A. | 17 January, 2009 at 6:23 am
Wow! Great topic! And I totally agree – the vacation rental industry is riddled with challenges. Search is a nightmare for one. Its onerous. Its time consuming. And you never know who to trust on the other end of the transaction.
We rented a place in St. Martin a few years ago. I couldn’t find a hotel by the good beaches on the island, so we were forced to rent. When I mailed in my check to reserve the place, I wasn’t sure whether our place really existed until after we arrived and were able to inspect the place. I was pleased with the result and the price. But it took such an incredible amount of time to plan and find the place that it made me not want to book a vacation rental again. Not because it was a bad experience. It was a great experience. I just don’t have 17 solid days to plan a vacation every time I go.
My experience in St.Martin made me realize that technology and Web 2.0 can totally solve the problems with vacation rentals. People need more efficient, map-based search. And people need a voice – to express their experiences, which is what Web 2.0 is all about right? Screened reviews are like no reviews. In other words if the owner of the property can sift out bad reviews, then what is the point of enabling reviews at all? If the consumer finds out, the trust is lost. The reviews need to be real reviews – the good, the bad and the ugly – to win a consumer’s trust.
The challenges in vacation rentals inspired me to create Viscape, a newer site, which enables people to socially network around vacation homes. Owners and listers cannot screen reviews, only flag them for moderator review.
What’s cool about Viscape is that travelers can tap their networks to swap and rent. I would much rather rent or swap with a friend or friend’s friend than with a stranger. Plus when I swap, its a big money saver!
There was another debate here about whether paid listings create more trust than free listings. Listings, in my opinion, must be free. Why? Because its the only way to enable a complete inventory of choices. Professional property managers cannot afford to list their entire selection of properties at $300 a pop.
While I like working with professionals, I don’t like the bait and switch. They’ll often list their best properties as bait, but then blast me with 10 properties that they really want to rent to me. Plus their websites are often horribly designed, giving me severe migraines, making me not want to travel at all.
So these are my thoughts. I’m really excited to get to see more of the world via vacation homes now. I like embedding myself in a community and traveling off the beaten path. Plus, if my panda cat, Dante Lion, can come too, that’s the best bonus!
James | 17 January, 2009 at 7:36 am
Hi, I’m an owner of several rental properties. You speak much about renters interest. But what’s about me as an owner and my properties ?
Almost all items in my vacation properties get damaged, often intentionally ( as f.e. cigarette ash in CD Player ). I always fear a call from the police or fire department:
“Your house has burn. Your renters has disappeared”
I would so much like to sell my properties. Had an heart attack because of stupidity and mean of renters. Can’t repair nomore tills, ac, doors, parquets,shower doors, curtains …all get damaged….
Never renters confess and always I must be aware to find a bad review somewhere in the net.
James | 17 January, 2009 at 7:39 am
Yesterday I sent a booking confirmation for a rental in june. I ask in red letters: Please confirm receipt of this email.
Even this is not respected by renters. They stress me before check-in. And this stress will continue whle they arrive, when they are in my property and when they have check-out.
You want to critize owners ? Well give me the keys of your apartment. You don’t know me.
James | 17 January, 2009 at 12:07 pm
My wife says:
We risk up to 8 000 000 Euro when a renter burns down our house ( central Paris ) – renters mayy risk 500 -1000 Euro.
Or with a water damage: the Cafe downstairs must close for 2 – 3 weeks. Me as owner will be held responsable. Renter returns in his country and will refuse all responsability. I’ll have to pay appr. 20 000 Euro turnover weekly.
What does a renter risk ?
Marty | 19 January, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I own some vacation rental properties also. Some friends, hoteliers, told me: “In a hotel people do what they never would do at home”
Well, in an holiday rental apartment there’s no recpetion, no daily maid service. Do you think people have a better behaviour than in hotel rooms ? No !! It’s so sad, but they damage whatever can be damaged.
Darren Cronian | 19 January, 2009 at 12:35 pm
@ All
Wwe are getting rather off-topic here. The topic of discussion is what is the future for accommodation only websites when the travel industry has sent the signal to consumers that booking a holiday with an ATOL bonded agent is the best way to go.
Garri | 19 January, 2009 at 12:45 pm
@Darren, I would be interested to see some articles supporting what you say above, i.e. “the travel industry has sent the signal to consumers that booking a holiday with an ATOL bonded agent is the best way to go”.
Darren Cronian | 19 January, 2009 at 12:49 pm
@ Garri
Have you not watched any of the travel adverts — First Choice / Thomson ads mention booking with ATOL because your money is safer. Tons of discussion on travel industry news sites. Because of XL, the likes of CAA and other consumer organisations are advising consumers to go this way.
Darren Cronian | 19 January, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@ Garri
To add; my unexpert opinion is booking with an ATOL agency either for the package or flights is the best way to go but, if you pay for everything by credit card then you are protection through the consumer act, but if stranded, you have to find your own way home, out of your own pocket.
Garri | 19 January, 2009 at 12:57 pm
@Darren, you should provide a link when you make statements like you did above, it would be helpful. We could then read it and contribute to getting back on topic, as you have requested
The vacation/holiday rental business is huge and not going to go away because of ads by travel companies with a vested interest in de-ramping vacation rentals.
Jenny | 19 January, 2009 at 1:03 pm
I would like to suggest another viewpoint: that caring rental home owners may provide a degree of flexibility, speed and generosity which more conventional (and cumbersome) travel companies could find hard to match.
Following a recent cancellation, I have just refunded the (non-refundable) deposit to a happy client. She has given me permission to quote her as “a completely satisfied client, following a voluntary return of Deposit, following cancellation of a holiday”.
Darren Cronian | 19 January, 2009 at 1:06 pm
@ Garri
I’m at work, during lunch replying, so don’t have the time to send links every time I make a statement. If I get time I will link to a few articles on this subject.
As for holiday rentals being huge and going away – I never said it would. From another view point, renting a villa etc. could be more affordable than a package holiday for a large family.
The point of the post, is that accommodation only companies should be regulated through an association, and can be audited, so that consumers have more confidence in booking with them.
Darren Cronian | 19 January, 2009 at 1:09 pm
@ Jenny
Good point about the deposit refund. There are many advantages to booking accommodation only and booking your own flight – I do not dispute that at all.
By the way – great discussion, keep your thoughts and opinions coming.
Sam Daams | 19 January, 2009 at 1:17 pm
@ Jenny
Others would argue that someone who has never stayed at your property should not go down as a ‘completely satisfied client’ at all as it could be deemed rather a fake review for someone who never stayed at the property…
In my experience, the good big organizations also all refund ‘non-refundable’ deposits as long as the reason is somewhat reasonable. That’s completely unnecessary as a cancellation insurance would cover in the same cases, but they have a lot to lose in goodwill.
Garri | 19 January, 2009 at 1:33 pm
@Darren, with regard to posting links, perhaps you should use the WordPress plugin called Insights (I’m not being funny, that’s what it’s called)
You said: “The point of the post, is that accommodation only companies should be regulated through an association, and can be audited, so that consumers have more confidence in booking with them.”
Yes, but they’re not regulated, so what are we going do?
I wouldn’t get spooked by travel companies’ ads, even regulated companies are going to the wall and these days, getting your back will be harder as there will be none – the banks will have it all
Darren Cronian | 19 January, 2009 at 1:55 pm
@ Garri
I know your not being funny. Thanks, never heard of that plugin and I will look into it, and I’ll dig some links out tonight. I am playing devils advocate on this post because I would be a hypocrite if I said everyone should book with an ATOL agent when I book my own accommodation/flight holidays.
What do we do? Good question. I think it is a good topic to discuss, but, I doubt regulation will happen because the companies concerned will not be wanting to pay out association fee’s but travel agencies have to, so why are these companies any different?
It’s also interesting that there’s hotel chains and accommodation only / rental sites reading this but none of them have jumped into the conversation. It’ll be good to get their opinion. I don’t pretend to be an expert on these things, but I do like getting discussions started on topics people in the industry are afraid of having.
Jenny | 19 January, 2009 at 2:04 pm
@ Sam. This client wasn’t offering a review of my property, simply feedback on the way I handled her (cancelled).
Sarah Chambers | 20 January, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Hi Darren & All,
“The chance of that is probably very remote but it does make you wonder if more should be done to control the number of accommodation rental sites, and also make them accountable should a consumer find that they are stranded without any accommodation.”
…This is exactly why Holiday-Rentals has introduced the HomeAway Rental Guarantee (see http://guaranteeuk.homeaway.com/ for more info), which offers free protection for travellers in the event the above does happen. As you point out, this is very unlikely, but as private rentals become ever-more popular, we recognise that there is a need for some element of protection and assurance.
In addition, we also now have the facility for past guests to leave reviews too. All reviews (with some guidelines of course; no profanities etc…) are posted, but crucially the owners have space to respond too, to give a balanced view. Hundreds of reviews are being added every day and as well as providing increased peace of mind and un-biased, third-party views on the property, also often provide additional insight on what there is to do nearby, what not to miss etc…
So this, combined with the increased peace of mind provided by the guarantee and reviews, we hope, will help more people discover the benefits of renting private properties.
I would encourage everyone to try a holiday in this way; just make sure you speak to the owners first, ask lots of questions, take up the guarantee, and get independent travel insurance to protect against unforeseen circumstances, such as illness, flight delays etc…, which I would always do anyway – even if travelling with an agent.
Gareth K Thomas | 26 January, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I know I’m a bit slow to reply to this one, just playing catch up with my blog reader. Some really interesting topics here.
Speaking from the perspective of an accommodation website owner (specifically apartments in a city – which perhaps could be seen as more direct competition to hotels?), I would really welcome anything that protected the people that booked with us and showed others that we were completely above board.
We compete with some great people, but certain individuals can quite easily give the industry (and the properties they represent) a really bad name.
How would someone go about setting up an ATOL/etc. equivalent for this industry? There is this: http://asap-servicedapartments.co.uk/ But it seems to be very much focussed toward the business customer.
Great post, thanks Darren – Gareth
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48 responses to “Debate on booking through accommodation only sites”