Our summer hol rental cancelled.

[CatOnAHotRadiator]

We had booked a huge in France (booked this time in 2024 for our hol this summer) and the owner just cancelled on us and pulled the booking! I’ve complained to Vrbo as he’s pulled it to list at a higher price but I can’t force him to let us stay. It was a lovely private home with lovely private pool.

Im looking on the usual sites like Airbnb, booking.com, Vrbo again etc. But can anyone recommend any France specific gite rental websites I can look at. Pickings are slim this late in the day. Looking at Provence, ideally towards Nice/Monaco for 2 weeks.

Not euro camp as my youngest can’t tolerate crowds. But appreciate we may have to compromise now! All our travel and en route hotels are booked so can’t switch up region without taking a loss.

Can you claim on your travel insurance? That's outrageous! I bet you can't even leave a review because you haven't stayed there!

Gîtes de France site:
www.gites-de-france.com/en

Also do some agrotourism searching - things like this come up https://www.bienvenue-a-la-ferme.com/

There's a FB group called "Property Owners in France" (I think). You can post with your requirements and dates. Can be cheaper to book direct.

Thanks everyone. I’ll take a look.

it is outrageous I agree! If we can’t get sorted (which I think is unlikely) I will speak to our insurers. At least we’re getting the full deposit back!

For what? The money will have been refunded.

So sorry - how frustrating. I’d be furious. I can’t help with recommendations but do think about areas inland from Nice/Monaco. I love south of France and southern alps and avoid the Côte d’Azur because it’s so busy (traffic) and exorbitantly expensive. But inland is different and I love it, hopefully that wouldn’t impact on your travel plans and might give you more choice.

I ve used GreenGo before for France.

To be fair we have incurred ferry and en route hotel costs. But realistically we’ll find another place to stay somewhere.

That is so frustrating, it may be worth holding on - some people will have reserved on Vrbo/booking etc but when payment time comes they may cancel.

If you’re keen to book now though - we have used select villas in the past - they were amazing!!

What did VRBO say ? It doesn't give them much credibility if their house owners are allowed to do this.

We've booked through Novasol before and never had any problems.

I’ve had the exact same thing happen to me and VRBO were useless!
Dont bother wasting your time as I spent weeks with no positive outcome - save yourself the stress!
Second Gites de France though 😊

What size?

I stayed in a lovely 2 bed in Avignon, luberon hills would be lovely too, there’s a place with just 4 gites sharing a pool and kids play equipment I have stayed at

Not sure how you feel about the Dordogne but a friend has just listed her house for rental this summer and there's still some availability. She'd very helpful and being very flexible with dates this summer as the house is only just listed.

Have a look on Insta - maisondumorilhou

MN is messing up the formating - it should be - maison underscore du underscore morilhou

Love the Dordogne but we did that last time we were there so planned our route down to get to Provence this time around.

I’ll have a look at the extra suggestions. We’ve a couple of messages out to rentals on GreenGo as recommended on her so fingers crossed!

And yes, VRBO are useless. They said they would restrict his listing but it’s still live!

We had this happen to us with vrbo about four years ago and they actually paid the difference for a new place that was a bit more expensive. My hasband dealt with them.

What do you think insurance can do? I'm not sure they will do anything as owner cancelled might not be covered

Look at yellohvillage website.Lots of options there for the south of France

Hope this link works, our holiday let is advertised through this site. ( not what you are looking for so not touting for trade),

www.abritel.fr/?semcid=ABRITEL-FR.B.GOOGLE.BT-c-FR.GT&semdtl=a118255202994.b1144409113049.g1kwd-356934973.e1c.m1EAIaIQobChMIo7i_77qgjQMV9plQBh3E7RmjEAAYAiAAEgJ1aPD_BwE.r1bf42255bc0d028531772dcd375c90705e9e0e68713856034b8da3ad314af199c.c1wl8r098de7iD6JBD5W7_fw.j19045005.k1.d1625128349825.h1e.i1.l1.n1.o1.p1.q1.s1.t1.x1.f1.u1.v1.w1&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18255202994&gbraid=0AAAAACTxZ9buBj0Ho8k7AnDCVR3ooL47-&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo7i_77qgjQMV9plQBh3E7RmjEAAYAiAAEgJ1aPD_BwE

Huttopia might be worth a look. They're 'eco' campsites with various lodges, tents etc and are generally much smaller and quieter than Eurocamp-type sites. We were really impressed when we stayed in one a couple of years ago (similar circumstances to yours - we were let down by our accommodation and had to come up with a Plan B quickly). The kids absolutely loved it and it was really good value.

https://europe.huttopia.com/en/

Hope it works out for you!

We've just booked a place in Perigord-Limousin on Greengo ... always seems trouble free.

Depending on where your stops are booked, would you consider going a bit further west towards Montpellier area? It's beautiful there and less expensive than Provence/Cote d'Azur, and possibly more availability.

Yes it is, isn't it..... we 've often stayed nr there and further along towards the French/Spanish border, the coast is spectacular as is inland towards the Areige/Aude area.