written by Jadau270 on 17/09/2023
Don't use this site- booked an advertised holiday for summer 2024 for Henley house in Weymouth - put in my card details to be told I had to wait for the owner to confirm - Then got a reply to say that the price indicated by the booking system does not represent the likely cost !! ie...they are not accepting bookings for 2024 as they will be putting their costs up ... WHY advertise it at all then ??? Very disappointed and will not use this site again. Not happy that I have put my card details in .. they say my card will not be charged ???
written by Taffy54 on 06/09/2023
Do not book this apartment you have been warned: Apartment Jean Jaures 1 Massena. Promenade Anglais, Nice. Do not expect or trust Holiday Lettings to help you. This apartment had not been cleaned. Mould in the shower and on the kitchen tap. Cockroaches in the kitchen. An electrical socket hanging off the wall in the kitchen with bare wires showing. Cobwebs on the ceilings. Handles falling off drawers. Water leaking from the ceiling into the apartment. Holes in the bedsheets. Noise every night from outside the master bedroom from revellers till 4/5 in the morning. A brothel 25 metres away. Complaints made to the agency office in person 3 times. They came to clean after the second complaint 6 days later. Although they told Holiday Letting that they came the next day after the initial complaint. They are liars, as I have proof with dated photographs. Then they offered us a derisory offer of compensation and Holiday Lettings only offered a discount on their commission as compensation if we booked another holiday with them. Fat chance.
written by _tom_r on 26/05/2023
Don't trust their cancelation policy. I had to cancel a stay after realising our flights would miss the last ferry to the island we were staying on. I cancelled with in 2 hours of making the booking and received no refund whatsoever. What's more they only took the payment for the stay out *after* I had cancelled. I rang up and they firstly said it was up to the individual owner to refund the booking fee not them. Then after pressing them they seemed to change their story and said it was because the booking was made 59 days beforehand and they policy only covers 60 (even though they were fine with taking the deposit after it had already been cancelled). Bottom line is they treat their customers awfully. Avoid.
written by JulieChurch on 18/07/2019
We have been customers with Holiday Lettings and then Trip Advisor for almost 12 years now. Initially we were very please with the volume of enquiries we received from Holiday Lettings and we felt that we were getting value for money. However ever since Trip Advisor arrived on the scene things have deteriorated. We have three properties so we are paying them well in excess of £2,000 each year but the customer service you receive is poor to say the least. They are obviously a very large company and they do not care about customer service. We have had many problems with emails which were not being delivered to enquirers when they were routed via the Trip Advisor web site. When we did try to complain, we were given the royal run around and they always say that they are going to "escalate" your complaint but nothing gets done. Recently we have felt under pressure to move on to their "commission only / pay per booking plan". They have emailed us and even telephoned us supposedly in response to our "request" when we have never expressed any interest in moving to this system. We have noticed a very clear fall in enquiries in recent months and it becomes apparent that little or no prioritisation is actually taking place now for people like us on the "old fashioned" system of payment. It would appear that they are desperate to get owners on to the new system because they know that they can make much more money that way. When the time comes for our renewals we will certainly not be staying with Trip Advisor.
written by Holt458 on 07/02/2019
AVOID, AVOID, AVOID - as an owner As an owner I have been with 'HL'for 6-7 years and TripAdvisor has changed the format, entirely to their advantage, to the point where I have had enough - many owners are looking elsewhere. I was a customer when 'holiday lettings' ran the site - before TripAdvisor and their greed ruined it. Specifically I find the complete lack of communication channels for owners unacceptable. Then the imposition, without notice, of a 15% booking fee that has led to an 70% drop in bookings for us for 2019. We already pay a 3% + vat charge. Then all monies are held until 5 days after client books in. A deposit paid June 2018 will only be paid to me in mid September 2019 - what other business would dare do this? I know - other USA owned giant booking site who put greed before service. TripAdvisor has turned 'Holiday Lettings' into an evil, cowardly and greedy goliath. They should consider: Step 1: establish a line of communication for owners - one that is accessible and accountable - neither a non-existent tel.no. nor an email address that never replies. Step 2: pay owners - those with an exemplary record of replying to bookings, with excellent reviews, who have only been praised by customers - on time. Owners such as myself. Step 3: curtail your greed and abolish the hidden and unfair booking fee imposed without warning that diminishes our bookings. You will not do any of this as you are consumed by greed - it's the American way.
written by DAMCG on 17/09/2018
I have outlined the details below but here is a summary of what to expect from Holiday Lettings: emails ignored as standard, hours spent on hold on a premium rate line at your own cost, a fight and a long wait to get your damage deposit back, customer service team reading from a prepared script (they are of course very sympathetic to your problems and understand your frustration but nothing gets done) no escalation to manager if you are unhappy with how your complaint is being handled - there seems to be one supervisor in the call centre but you will never get to speak to anyone more senior. They also never call you back when they say they will - they repeatedly claim that they tried calling but it went through to a voicemail which is complete rubbish as I do not even have voicemail on my phone. It's just another story on top of all the other stories to fob you off. In all, I've never dealt with a company with such appauling customer service. It is obvious that they make the whole process as frustrating and ineffective as possible so that you give up the fight and go away. Just in case you need it, the quickest way to get the damages deposit back is to contact your credit card company who will launch an investigation and that seems to do the trick. We booked a holiday rental in Portugal through Holiday Lettings for the dates 20-29 August 2018. Before our holiday even started, we contacted Holiday Lettings by email on 16 Aug to inform them that the owner was requesting that we paid the £400 damages deposit in cash on arrival. However, we noticed that a previous traveller reviewed the property on 5 Aug to say that their deposit has not been repaid and the owner had ignored all of his emails. This traveller believed that they had been robbed. We did not want to pay the deposit in cash and have the same problem getting it repaid as the reviewer of 5 Aug. We requested urgent advice but there was no response from Holiday Lettings. In the end we had to spend the day phoning their premium rate number at our cost to sort it out the day before we were due to travel which was very stressful and time consuming. In the end we paid €400 as a damages deposit to Holiday Lettings rather than the sum in cash to the owner on arrival. As soon as we arrived on holiday, we experienced problems and tried to get assistance from the owner but he made no attempt to resolve the problems with our stay. There were no chopping boards - the owner told us to cut up on the stone worktop but not to bang too hard as this will damage the stone. We didn't really want to do this because it might jeopardise our damages deposit. In all other rental properties we have stayed in, chopping boards have been provided. There was only one wine glass - we were a family of 5 adults who wanted to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner on holiday and this is not acceptable. The owner said that wine glasses had been broken by previous guests and he would not replace them. There were only 2 sunbeds - as above, we were 5 adults. 3 sunbeds are pictured in the photos of the listing of the property. Again the owner said that sunbeds had been broken by previous guests and are not being replaced. When we arrived, we found the BBQ dirty and full of ash from the previous guest. The coffee machine was also full of coffee which had gone mouldy. Again, this had not been cleaned. We had to clean both the BBQ and the coffee machine before we could use them. There was an ants nest behind the couch in the lounge. The owner told us to use ant spray but the ants still kept coming. There were also faulty items such as a wall socket on the landing, wires hanging from the ceiling in the bedrooms which looked dangerous and a faulty shower screen in the ensuite. The swimming pool also had several tiles missing and sharp cracked stones which was a real worry because we had 4 small children. There was also mould growing in and around the tiles in the pool which was very unpleasant. We contacted Holiday Lettings every day on holiday to ask for assistance. At first, they agreed to not release our funds in payment to the owner until the issues were resolved but after a couple of days, they informed us that they had looked into our case and had decided that Payment Protection did not apply and the funds were released to the owner. After this point, Holiday Lettings stopped communicating with us and proceeded to ignore all of our emails requesting assistance. We feel very let down that we experienced these problems on holiday and were not given any help from the lettings agent. We feel that the property was described as 'luxury', 'new' and 'well equipped' and we paid a lot of money to stay there but it was not as described. Therefore, we feel that a refund and an apology is required because we did not go on holiday for problems and complaints. When we returned from holiday, we lodged a complaint including supporting photographic evidence with Holiday Lettings. However, the owner immediately lodged a complaint against us on 31 August claiming that we had stained the couch and €200 of our damages deposit would not be refunded as a result. We absolutely refuted this fake claim and had to wait 48 hours for the owner to provide evidence before our damages deposit was returned to us. After this time expired, I had to constantly chase Holiday Lettings for our deposit to be returned with hours spent writing emails (all of which were ignored) and on the phone again at a substantial cost to me. After a week of chasing, I contacted my credit card company to investigate the matter and the deposit was finally returned to us on 11 September. Holiday Lettings still have not responded to my complaint about the property being substandard and I feel that as the lettings agent, they bear some responsibility to ensure that complaints are investigated and customers are reimbursed if a property is not as advertised. I would like others to be made aware of this awful customer service so that they do not have to suffer such treatment when booking a holiday. I will never use them again - I have booked several holiday rentals through Owners Direct and never had a problem. I will now pursue my claim through the credit card company because I have had no response from Holiday Lettings. And for Tripadvisor to own this company, they should be ashamed of themselves as they are taking complete advantage of people's trust in the reviews and recommendations which come from this site
written by TerryBaxter56 on 08/09/2018
We stayed at a below par villa in Spain and gave in 3 out of 5 stars and it was a balanced review. We wondered why all others had given it 5 stars and were a bit suspicious of only 6 reviews in 6 years. Ours has still not been published and it is long beyond their time scales. I suspect it is because it is not favourable and we would not recommend the property. No response to our e-mails to Holiday Lettings. Would never use them again.
written by on 03/09/2018
I tried to book several different properties but when I checked with the alleged owners the price was far greater than advertised for them dates.Please avoid !don’t waste time and effort booking with them.
written by jayjay1952 on 07/08/2018
stayed with friends for a long weekend,very comfortable beds/sofas Very clean and plenty of space .Everything we needed was there, plus handy coop shop on ground floor.Although on a fairly busy road ,we were at the back so very quiet.Close to beach and shops ,what more do you want.?
written by Spoors on 02/08/2018
Holiday leettings ( Trip advisor) seem totally unwilling to help us wdith the issues that we experienced. We would have thought that under stanard consumer protection that we would have had some reimbursementas a result of these issues. We had some initial issues with the booking not going through properly, however, this was dealt with. Our main concern was the total lack of help in resolving some quite serious issues with the standard of the place we stayed in. When sending emails questions were not answered and the response came back each time. You are not eligible for payment protection, contact the owner directly. Given that the owner had been most unhelpful during our stay, this was not going to work. Also we could not even leave a rewiew on the property since the owner had removed it from site and it was up for sale. Issues with property included bare wires on extractor fan, no catches on window so could not be opened, during heat wave, owner told us to be creative! Fire escape in heap in cupboard with no instructions. Sofa propped up on books, cushions ripped, garden furniture falling apart, carpet not hoovered properly, toothpaste stains on dresser, cracks in kitchen floor tiles and water running down wall from leaking shower!! I would NEVER book through this company again, I paid in full 7 months before the stay, which meant I could not use my credit card to help either and got no help at all.
written by Angelicaah on 21/05/2018
As a property owner HL/TA have become greedy, extremely unprofessional, don’t pay up all money and make us chase them for what is owed to us. Additionally, they have fined us several times £100 for double booking our home out when we already had it booked. Bookings appear at last minute that we know we’ve not accepted then not only do we go out of our way to quickly accommodate these poor people, but HL/TA fine us £100 take 50% of the booking, make us chase them up for non-payment and payments they seem to forget they owe us. As if that isn’t bad enough, they then allow people to leave reviews about how WE double booked them and didnt let them know until last minute. The last ones, we couldn’t find accommodation for at last minute so they were allowed to rip our business to pieces and HL/TA fined us £100 plus we have to pay £400+ for the accommodation costs it cost extra for them to find and we have been dropped to the lowest research! Therefore, it is not with great sadness but we are leaving HL/TA as they don’t have the monopoly like they like to think they have. They will ruin all businesses out of greed and stupid made up money fees and rules. Got too greedy...
written by Rooneyxv374 on 10/04/2018
Initial booking process was ridiculous as we received conflicting e-mails regarding confirmation about our Accommodation. Had to contact Customer services 3 times who all spoke broken English. Received an email from owner 4 weeks later to say our apartment had been double booked. Avoid at all costs!
written by L1zDoyle on 20/09/2017
I rent my holidaycottage in Donegal via Airbnb and Homeowners abroad. Both great companies who are easy to deal. I have dealt with them for 3 years. I decided to try Holidaylettings.co.uk What a disaster! They are expensive and have no contact number for support even in an emergency. A lady recently rented my house for 2 days. She left after 1 day. Her complaints include. The grass was too wet. The insects outside might bite her. The fire was not hot at the right time. The ground was boggy. They go on in this highly intelligent vein. She complained to holiday lettings that there was no tv or wifi as listed on the advert. There is no tv or wifi which is why there is no tv or wifi listed or advertised with this property. She wanted her money back. Not happening. However holiday letting think I should return her money as "you cannot deny the renters experience"!!!! What does that even mean???!!! Try Airbnb. They answer your calls and you get intelligent locals talking to you.
written by Talia379 on 02/09/2017
We have just returned from an 8 day stay at this small complex, the apartment we stayed in was named 'WATERFRONT' it is part of the Watersedge apartments owned by Roseanne and Ludwig Camilleri. The apartment is 2 bedroom very modern and complete with a decent size swimming pool. It is in a good position a very short walk from rocky sea bathing and about a 10 minute walk from beach in St Thomas's Bay. It has full air conditioning (extra charge) we only used one of the 3 units and the weather was very hot. It has full Wi-Fi (extra Charge). We recommend this apartment, we look forward to renting it again.
written by Larax146 on 15/07/2017
Paid the deposit and then found out the property was not clean and was a disgrace, not like the photo. Now, after several letters, emails and phonecalls, they are refusing to refund my money. You have a 24 hour cool off and I unfortunately went a touch over that time. Guests that are staying in there came out to say how bad it was. Thank god I can send someone to look outside to see if it's o.k. Others can't! I was also threatened by a member of staff who left me visibly shaken. BE CAREFUL. Some pictures are not a true portrayl!
Written on: 19/07/2017
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“What a disgrace”
Written on: 19/07/2017 by StuffedbyHL (4 reviews written)
Be VERY VERY careful if advertising on Homeaway. First you pay a £300 subscription, then they force you to one of their booking systems that earns them another 5-10% commission. If you refuse that they suppress your advertisement so you get no bookings. In the process of issuing a County Court summons to get my money back but very hard to find the name of anyone senior… Read Full Review
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written by Fowler497 on 09/06/2017
This was the worst decision of my life. Customer service put me in harms way by not acting responsibly and tried saying that the rebooking of a hotel at the same price was a matter of goodwill, but when in reality it was a contractual obligation. The lady owed the booking service for a previous short term cancellation. She tried to withhold my luggage when I refused to give her any money, when I told her that I paid the booking in full through ****************************** and she needed to contact them. The reason why I believe they are in part responsible for this is that they cancelled her account before I was able to get my stuff from her. 2. I was put in the default position of being tripadvisors/booking.com's agent, by having to inform her that she needed to contact they agency to see why she was not getting the money in full. I told her what she is doing is illegal and I would call the police. I guess she heard me call the police, because she threw my personal property all over her lawn and then threatened me by saying, "She is going to get her boyfriend to kick my ***."
written by ScarlettSaunders207 on 08/05/2017
Booked a holiday villa and received a dodgy looking email asking for a photo of me next to my license or passport and to send it via email thought it was fake they then cancelled my villa. What company requests documents by email. I asked for another villa and they said they would need another payment. Absolute joke dodgy villas would not use them again bad company.
written by WELLS56 on 25/04/2017
I MADE A BOOKING TO SITGES WITH THIS WEBSITE, THEY SAY THAT DEPOSIT NOT TAKEN TIL OWNER CONFIRMS AVAILABILITY. I HAVE E MAIL TO CONFIRM MY BOOKING DETAILING DEPOSIT TAKEN,DATE TAKEN, BALANCE DUE AND DUE DATE. AFTER I MAKE AND PAY FOR MY TRAVEL, I GET A MESSAGE FROM OWNER SAYING SHE MADE A` MISTAKE` SHE HAD DOUBLE BOOKED, I COULDN`T HAVE PROPERTY AND SURE THAT I WOULD FIND SOMETHING ELSE. TOTAL DIS REGARD TO ANY ELEMENT OF CUSTOMER SERVICE. MY DATE WAS FIXED DUE TO ANNUAL EVENT IN SITGES. HOLIDAY LETTINGS/TRIPADVISOR WON`T ANSWER EMAILS AND THEY HAVE NO ADVERTISED CONTACT NUMBER TO COMPLAIN TO ANYONE. BE VERY AWARE BEFORE YOU BOOK VIA THIS SITE....
written by Sims76 on 28/03/2017
I am a holiday property owner who has advertised on holiday lettings for 10 years, in this time I have been very happy advertising with them. However since they were bought out by Trip Advisor things have changed not only for the property owners but for the booker and not for the better. HL/TA are clearly trying to force all owners to sign up to their 'free listing' which costs the owner 3% (not bad you think) and the booker up to 18% (yes thats right!) on top of the rate the owner is asking. Up until last year the annual fee an owner had to pay was £359 ex VAT for 12 months listing but they have also increased this significantly. They chanel the whole process of booking in their favour, they wish to hold all monies paid until after the arrival of the guests (I can take bookings over a year in advance) they scare bookers away from paying the owner direct by constantly stating Never Pay by Wire Transfer. As someone who has invested a lot of money and time in my holiday letting business it is frankly jaw dropping how HL is treating its owners. The most recent bullying and controlling tactic is to email owners who aren't using their 'free to list' 'rip off to bookers' rates and state that their properties would be eligible to win a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence if they convert to this heinous/covert booking method. ALSO be aware that in order for a holiday rental to be even listed on Trip Advisor it MUST be their customer - i.e. if you don't subscribe to the HL site you CANNOT be listed on Trip Advisor (I thought there was a law against Monopolies!) I do not wish my customers to be ripped off in this way, I object to HL trying to force all bookings to take place on their terms, after all it is NOT their property! I advise all holiday makers to search for owners personal websites and book DIRECT with them. Lastly their customer service is now terrible - they employ people who are ineffectual and couldnt care less... The word is out!
Written on: 21/05/2018
Thank you for writing your comment. We too are holiday home owners and since Trip Advisor got on board they have ruined the whole site. We use other sites like Airbnb and Homeaway, plus one or two others and despite us being booked and our calendars supposedly syncing, they keep double booking us without us accepting then fine us for having to cancel their booking £100 each time then they dump us low in their reviews and allow the people who double booked to leave awful reviews for ‘us’ cancelling their holiday or break even though we go out of our way to accommodate them in other prestigious accommodation. Trip Advisor have also added that many charges that it’s not worth our time letting our properties with them. They got too greedy and their customer service stinks.
written by Asiac385 on 07/03/2017
Tripadvisors holiday lettings site is a joke. Their customer service is terrible. I upgraded to a subscription account as they rip off the customers so much. They said it would take 3-5 days to get the advert active again, how it can take this long to verify a passport photo I do not know. 5 days later the advert is still not active. So I rung up and they promised it would be within 24 hours. 48 hours later and of course nothing. No phone call or anything to apologise or explain. You have to wait for ages to get through to someone and then they are just sat reading a computer and basically pathologically lying to you.
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Stuffedbyhl's Comment
Written on: 26/09/2017
Duhhhh! You are meant to be writing a comment about how efficient or otherwise you found Holiday Lettings, not how nice or otherwise your rental was!