Anyone booked with owners direct? Not atol or abta bonded.

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We are looking at an apartment holiday in tenerife and have found a company called owners direct.

There are lots of good reviews for the few properties I have looked at but they are not ATOL or ABTA bonded. A travel agent friend had previously advised us to go only with a conmpany that was bonded.

Does anyone have any expereince of booing with this company?

Hi there

We've booked through owners direct and now advertise my parents French villa on owners direct too.

I would thoroughly recommend them but ultimately, they are simply a portal to view private properties and enable you to contact the owner direct.

We invest a great deal of time and effort with every single one of our villa renters and as such, we have many repeat visitors. This is through our hard work and effort rather than owners direct - this website just gives potential customers a way of finding us.

Hope this helps a bit

i used them for an apartment in portugal. it all went well - though i was slightly nervous about giving such a large cheque to someone i didn't know. i chose someone who had a uk phone number as i felt slightly more confident then if anything went wrong. I also emailed them some questions and spoke to them over the phone before parting with money. it says how long they have been advertising on owners direct - again i wouldn't choose anyone new. there was a thread a while back about someone who had a terrible experience - dirty/dangerous accommodation.

Hi
I advertise my villas on Owners Direct so can confirm that they are a genuine company. They are part of the American group HomeAway.

I believe they do have some sort of insurance that you can take out as some of my guests have mentioned it.

Ultimately though you do need to use your judgement when booking through a company like this. I know that I am 100% genuine but can't guarantee that all advertisers are. I'd suggest that you phone the owners of any villas that you are interested in. Most owners will be very happy to answer your questions and to put your mind at rest.

yes we have booked villas about 4 times with owners direct
everything has always gone very smooothly
brilliant site!

they are just a advertising site.

i have booked places advertised on there and holiday rentals a number of times and never had any problems.

best thing is being able to communicate with the owners directly (arf)
very useful for all the little details

i did it. no problems at all and much cheaper than any other way i found. saying that i didnt really think about what would happen if it went tits up

i got flights seperately with Jet2.

my experience was ok and id probably do it again.

Would suggest that you pay by credit card (Barclaycard if possible) as from experience, their insurance will cover you in the event of it all going tits up...

We haven't booked through Owners Direct but we have used Holiday Rentals (same idea, book directly with owners) many times and stayed in some fantastic places at very reasonable prices.

Btw, I can recommend a lovely little villa on a complex which we rented through Holiday Rentals a couple of years ago.

Details of the home away (holiday rentals) guarantee can be found here.

It does offer excellent protection for travellers - I only wish it worked in reverse!!

The Sunday Times did an expose about holiday-rentals.co.uk ( DIY portals like Owners Direct). See below for reference to article.
The issue here is that DIY portals offer no protection to the public, according to the article, so you must use companies that accept a credit card for your protection with any accommodation booking.
ABTA will not even protect you either when you book accommodation only, even if the operator says they are ABTA bonded.

Go to Blog page bit.ly/mEop8w for full story that is insightful and helpful about the issues of DIY portals, ABTA and security when paying for a villa or any type of accommodation.

Have used owners direct & another similar about 3 times, never had any problems. Made sure I got travel insurance asap after booking, hoping that would cover any trouble & paid by visa where possible.

Every time with no problem.
They wouldn't feel able to advertise with them if customers reported bad experiences.

I have booked villas and apartments through Owners Direct for the last few years and have never had a problem.

They are not a travel agent, simply a website where people pay to advertise properties they have for rent in holiday resorts. You pay the owner him or herself.

Book flights and car hire seperately - it's a doddle and works out VERY much cheaper than companies like James Villas.

We've used them in the past - wouldn't occur to us to book via a travel agent, we'd rather go direct. Never had any problems with this or similar sites, or indeed just booking directly with owners who we've found on the internet.

We also advertise our french gite through a similar site. We, like other owners we know who advertise through them, try really hard to make sure that our accommodation is well maintained and people get good value for money.

Owners Direct is just that, it puts you directly in touch with the owners of the properties. You do not book a villa through them you book directly with the owners.

This gives you the chance to ask the questions you want to ask directly, and to make your own judgement. Owners direct do not vet the owners or the properties. Booking by credit card is possible for some villas, but beware the owners who take payment through paypal as this may not protect you.

There are some fantastic properties on owners direct. Often at a much better price than booking through agents as you are cutting out the middle man.

We have had 2 properties rented via Owners Direct, one in Spain and one in Canada. Both have been amazing experiences: owners/managers who have gone the extra (ten) miles, free wifi, home-from-home comfort, no hidden charges, etc etc. And at a fraction of the cost of a hotel. Trust your gut instinct, if you dont like how they sound in an email, then dont go through with the rental. Ask them all the questions and if they are reluctant to answer, dont rent. If they are totally inflexible about payment method and it's going to be a hassle or expensive, dont rent. I would absolutely recommend Owners Direct! (and my DH was rather sceptical in the beginning...). Dont forget travel insurance in case of the worst happening

We use Owners Direct most Easters - have been concerned about not being bonded in the past but have never had a bad experience. It is definitely worth speaking to the owners as others have said, it will help you get a feel. What we have done is speak to them to ask the questions not covered on the website "will the pool definitely be open at Easter" (after a bad experience not booked via OD). Also to ask them to hold the property whilst you book flights. You can judge a little bit by their reaction to that last question how helpful they are going to be. We have had some AMAZING apartments, fraction of the price of travel agents.