Anyone booked a holiday abroad through Tripadvisor?

[runner2]

I've never booked a summer hol abroad with tripadvisor before; all contact I've had is direct with (in this case) the apartment owner and it seems fine, but I'd be grateful to hear if tripadvisor is a good, secure and reliable site to book through.

Trip Advisor isn't a booking site. Do you mean through Holiday Lettings ?

They are like the other booking sites - such as Chez Nous, Home Away and Owners Direct etc. You book with the owner - and the website has no liability to you or the owner. They just host the site.

If it helps I have booked many villas, apartments etc using various sites to locate rentals - and so far have been fine.

I used Holiday lettings last year. Absolutely fine

The Tripadvisor website has on online payment system and it says if you make payments to the property owner via their system with a credit card you get something called "Peace of mind protection". But you're not covered by this if you make direct payments to the owner (by bank tansfer for example). The owner I've contacted only accepts direct payments to her bank account and I just wasn't sure if this was a bit risky. Though we will have our own holiday insurance of course...

While I'm sure Tripadvisor is a reputable site, their main business is not holiday bookings and I would be very careful to find out what the Peace of Mind protection actually covers. Neither would I make direct payments to a property owner, you have no comeback if it turns out not to be a legitimate rental and your holiday insurance will not cover that - it's meant for medical expenses, lost luggage etc.