I have never stayed in a villa, but have stayed at Regal Palms. I would guess the only difference is, is that you have to drive (if it's v hot) or walk to the pool.
The pool is lovely, and you also have a gym, and resturant area to get meals from. I would also have thought that the house would be smaller too.
We had a three bed town house and there was plenty of room for us.
If you are renting from a private owner, ask for a house in phase 1, as these are nearer to the pool and also make sure that it doesn't back onto the main road.
We rented our house from Simon Offord, if you google him, you will find his website, with a really good part called questions and answers. Simon lives in the UK and last I heard he was working as a pilot. He owns quite a few houses on Regal Palms and also rents out his friends houses for them too, so he probably has a bit of clout with the reception people if things don't go to plan.
We had a broken hair dryer in our house and a new one was brought round within 1 hour.