Villa payment in Spain via Bank transfer - is this normal practice

[Silky123]

Hi,

I'm looking to book a family holiday in Spain - we have found a villa on the Holiday Lettings website - the owner want money transferred only - not credit card or paypal, is this normal practice - has anyone had experience of this. Thanks and appreciated

Very dodgy. I wouldn't do it. We booked a holiday villa once that was completely missold - the owners would not talk to us when we complained and it was our credit card company who provided a refund, not the site we booked through.

Its a scam. Stay away.

You'll have no protection if something goes wrong.

I've never heard of that website, it's not one of the big ones. Do they have any reviews on Trustpilot?

PIL were scammed out of £5k like this. Can’t see how it isn’t obvious it’s a scam

Holiday Lettings is a big site. Pretty sure we always pay this way. Not saying there's no risk but I don't think it's that unusual.

I've just looked them up on Trustpilot and they have 1.7 stars out of five! Says it all really.

It is fairly normal in Spain but don't. Insist on credit card payment. Protect yourself

We did this for a riad in Morocco (French owners) and somewhere else that I can't remember in Europe and it was all fine. Both places though had a lot of recommendations. I wouldn't do it for somewhere that had little or no presence on Tripadvisor etc.

I’ve done this many times for places in Spain and it has always been absolutely fine, but I can understand your hesitation!

Sounds dodgy. Never pay off platform.