How do you book villa/cottages?

[Lelophants]

Which sites do you use? I’ve had some bad air bnb experiences (where I’ve been let down last minute). If you wanted to secure a decent place for the summer say (all self catered) how would you book it?

Are you wanting UK or abroad?

I’ve used cottages.com a lot for uk holidays.

Cottages.com
Sykes cottages
never had a problem with either of those sites.
ver6 easy to use and lots of filters to narrow your selection down.

In the UK I’ve used cottages.com and Air BnB, but with the latter I only book with Superhosts and check reviews carefully.
Bad experiences with Sykes, wouldn’t use them again.

I'm sure you'll find people who've had bad experiences with every single one of the booking companies, but 99% of people will be fine.

I've booked dozens of air bnb properties over the years both here and abroad. I've had two cancellations (both in Edinburgh funnily enough) but the rest have been great.

I've used Sykes with no issues as well.

Oh, have used Sally’s cottages as well.

I avoid Sykes

Booking.com is good.

Don’t use Sykes!! There is a FB group with about 9000 people complaining about them. They are essentially an agent so when things go wrong they never act on behalf of the holiday maker.

we use Toad Hall Cottages. Never had an issue.

I've stayed in some lovely AirBnB but like a PP, I only book Superhosts and read a lot of reviews.

Menai Cottages are usually good too.

I use Booking. Com generally. It's a bit more straightforward than Airbnb and doesn't have the owner rating you.

We use booking.com and Vrbo.

What about abroad or are these mainly for uk?

Villa Plus for the Greek Islands (other islands are available) or CV Villas (more upmarket). Both excellent with good service. We be used VillaPlus for over twenty years and haven't had a bad experience yet. James Villas is another one but we have no personal experience.

I've used Villa Plus several times for overseas holidays and have always been happy with the quality of the accommodation and the service.

James Villas stopped trading recently so not them! They had some lovely villas, many of which have been picked up by other agencies.

Where are you thinking OP?

I've used AirBnB for Europe. Like I said though, I only book with Superhosts and read a lot of reviews before booking.

Booking.com

Jet2 Villas

Vrbo

Be careful of Booking.com because we booked a cottage through them just before the pandemic and we couldn't go...but it turned out Booking was an agent for Sykes so we didn't get any money back (we stupidly didn't have insurance). We were not made aware by Booking that it was a Sykes property or we would not have booked it.

Booking.com, Vrbo or direct for a couple of small cottage complexes we’ve stayed at.

We have booked villas, houses and hotels through Booking.com, both in UK and abroad.

I aways book accommodation that doesn't need paying until you arrive and can be cancelled until fairly close to the time. So no risk.