Booking a villa - some advice please

[Beep]

Hi,

I wondered if you good people could help me with a query?

We are booking a villa for the first time for December this year so haven't done it before.

I found a great villa on ownersdirect.com and got in touch with the owner. He has availability and the price is excellent, but he wants payment by cheque and doesn't take credit cards. I would much rather pay by credit card for the security but is it normal to pay by cheque?

He has been with ownersdirect since June 2007, has quite a few booking for this year and has offered details of previous guests for comfort but I'm not sure.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[Paula WBA]

Hi Beep

A lot of villa owners take cheques for payment.

You could find out the address of his villa and check that he is the registered owner, there are websites that allow you to do this, but you need his surname and the address of the villa.

I would ask lots of questions about the villa and get the comments he has from other guests.

 

[Beep]

Hi Beep

A lot of villa owners take cheques for payment.

You could find out the address of his villa and check that he is the registered owner, there are websites that allow you to do this, but you need his surname and the address of the villa.

I would ask lots of questions about the villa and get the comments he has from other guests.

Thanks for that. I have got the address of the villa and his surname so will look into it. Thanks.

 

[FPL]

I think ownersdirect has a link in the top right hand corner to the governing organisation which will protect your money as long as you register before payment.

I've always used this website before this service was introduced and never had a problem but you never know!

 

[Pegasus928]

Each villa we have had up to now has asked for a cheque and we have had no problems. The last one we booked however took payment by Paypal.

As you know the villa address I would also look on Google Earth or windows Live Local and check that everything is as it should be.

We booked a villa last year and one of the things that attracted us to it was that it had a south facing pool - which we had requested. About 3 months before we were due to go we went on Google Earth and found out it was actually a north facing pool. Now, people in the know swear that it makes no difference in Florida whether it is north or south facing because the sun is so high in the sky (by 'people in the know' I mean owners with a north facing pool ) but we were seriously miffed that we had been lied to.
Needless to say we got our deposit back (apparently the owner had been told by the builders that it was south facing so just assumed it was ) and went and got a fantastic villa that we loved from the day we arrived to the day we left.

The only other thing I would like to add is that a lot of villa owners won't give out the address to their villa until the final balance has been paid - and some will only tell you it a couple of weeks before you travel. It has something to do with not wanting to advertise to potential thieves that the house will be unattended etc etc.
Personally I don't buy this, and if we can't check the location for ourselves we just move onto the next villa on the list.

 

[Beep]

I think ownersdirect has a link in the top right hand corner to the governing organisation which will protect your money as long as you register before payment.

I've always used this website before this service was introduced and never had a problem but you never know!

That's great, thank you. I've just registered the details with them

Each villa we have had up to now has asked for a cheque and we have had no problems. The last one we booked however took payment by Paypal.

As you know the villa address I would also look on Google Earth or windows Live Local and check that everything is as it should be.

We booked a villa last year and one of the things that attracted us to it was that it had a south facing pool - which we had requested. About 3 months before we were due to go we went on Google Earth and found out it was actually a north facing pool. Now, people in the know swear that it makes no difference in Florida whether it is north or south facing because the sun is so high in the sky (by 'people in the know' I mean owners with a north facing pool ) but we were seriously miffed that we had been lied to.
Needless to say we got our deposit back (apparently the owner had been told by the builders that it was south facing so just assumed it was ) and went and got a fantastic villa that we loved from the day we arrived to the day we left.

The only other thing I would like to add is that a lot of villa owners won't give out the address to their villa until the final balance has been paid - and some will only tell you it a couple of weeks before you travel. It has something to do with not wanting to advertise to potential thieves that the house will be unattended etc etc.
Personally I don't buy this, and if we can't check the location for ourselves we just move onto the next villa on the list.

Good advice, thank you. I went onto Google Earth and had a look - quite exciting to look at it 'in the flesh!'