Very disturbing to read reports of people losing their holidays through booking Villas that don’t exist.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article6682770.ece
When you book a holiday It’s difficult to know if a villa is genuine but I would trust one that shows an availability calendar with bookings, the bogus one’s book the same week time and time again.
A guest book that is hosted by an external site that can’t be modified by the owner, ours has 61 entries from Feb 2006.
An owner that will accept credit cards, we accept paypal but 95% of visitors use bank transfer.
We live on site and have a local phone number.
We have changed a lot of our adverts with listing sites because of market swings but we have been with Spain Holiday since Jan 2008 as it says on our ad there.
I could go on but i guess you have to feel comfortable with the people you are booking with. We are always happy to call enquirers who have any questions.
Lets hope that the rental listing sites weed out the crooks, they take enough of our money and they need to offer guarantees and be more stingent with their checks or people will stop booking what is normally a great holiday experience.
Off for a swim to cool down!
Mick