Sunday Times article about fictitiously advertised by owners on Holiday-Rentals DIY advertising portals, and lack of compensation.
The Sunday Times Travel section article (dated 20th Feb 2011) entitled ‘found the perfect villa' gives an account of reported frauds with adverts appearing on the Holiday-Rentals website, which is a DIY owners' advertising portal.It highlights the dangers of booking a villa directly with an owner, that could be a fictitiously advertised villa. It goes onto say that in the event of fraud the compensation is restricted to 50% of the rental, upto a maximum of £700, so you could well be out of pocket by more than half that you paid. This website has over 220,000 villas listed from all over the world.
The article goes onto suggest that it is safer to book with ABTA-registered agents, but then again a look at what has happened to ABTA in recent years, as they offer no protection either, according to the press articles, below, and also what ABTA say themselves:-
The Guardian
The Times Online
The Travel Mole
Not only that, but ABTA had their code of conduct withdrawn by the Office of Fair Trading - Report
The Travel Weekly
The following links also highlight that some holidaymakers are not too happy with ABTA either when they have to deal with them about problems:-
Holiday Truths
Villaseek Blog
Holiday Watchdog
Holiday Watchdog Forum
Relying on any ABTA registered firm is confusing and flawed. Comments made by ABTA, and reported, are quite frankly scary.
So the message is very clear. You really cannot trust anyone, as any company can go into liquidation, or an individual bankrupt, or the holiday you booked is not protected.
The only answer is to pay by credit card, such as Visa or MasterCard (not a debit or charge card like Amex or Diners Club), which then protects you with a 100% refund in the event something like the above goes wrong, as advised by journalists and the BBC here.
There is no credit card surcharge when you use your personal credit card at VillaSpain, so you can book a villa with absolute piece of mind.
