Villa rental

[ManCity]

It is not surprising that various Dibb advertisers will claim their way is best, as they have a vested interest! I am not chasing any Dibber's business, nor am I a HomeAway shareholder, so can offer a more objective response.

The differences you see are to a large extent between UK culture and US culture. In the UK we expect prices to be all-inclusive, so Brit owners renting to Brit guests on a Brit website reflect that. However, the villas are in the US, most owners are in the US, most guests are from the US (plus Canada and South America) and the big websites such as HomeAway, TripAdvisor and AirBnb are US-based, so not suprisingly follow the US convention of itemised billing. HomeAway has 30,000 rental properties in the Orlando area, whilst the Dibb only has about 150 - quite clearly catering for different markets.

They are not 'extras', just separately costed items in a bill where the costs are broken down. In the UK you are still paying for all these things - you just don't know how much each one is, as you are not told. Villa websites are businesses - they all charge. Some charge the guest an explicit booking fee, some charge the owner, some both. Even if the site charges the owner an advertising fee, the guest still ends up paying as it is just part of the owner's overheads which are reflected in the rate.

On HomeAway and AirBnb you are still dealing direct with the owner. The owner provides the listing words and photos, sets the prices, decides whether to accept a booking, answers all queries. You can still build up a rapport. You only deal with the company if there is a problem with the owner. There are two differences: communication is via the messaging system instead unencrypted emails, and the payment is via the website. Whilst paying a UK owner via UK online bank transfer is free, all other payment methods direct to the owner will incur fees anyway. Paying a US owner in USD will incur bank and foreign exchange fees, and if the owner accepts card payments they need a merchant account which costs, and even using PayPal (properly) incurs fees. It is just a question of which third party is involved. AirBnb only pays owners the day after check in - owners don't like it as they get payments later - but that is good for guests as it means the owner can't do a runner - the property has to exist and be as described, and is very effective in stopping scammers. If payment is made direct to the owner, the owner has to declare and pay the tax over to the government (assuming they are honest). The villa web sites have started paying the tax direct to the government themselves, instead of via the owner. That stops dishonesty - is that not a good thing?

The cleaning fee is what the owner pays their property manager to clean the property when the guest leaves. You are paying for that even if there is an inclusive weekly rate - you just don't know how much. The cost is the same whether you stay for 1, 2, 3 weeks, so it is more logical to charge it separately once per rental rather than try to include it in a weekly rate.

Also bear in mind, if you have been going for many years, the GBP is almost at an all-time low (1.25) compared with the high (2.00). As almost all villa costs are incurred in USD, that is an automatic massive price increase in GBP of 60% between those periods, before you add inflation as well.

At the end of the day, it comes down to a compromise between choice, cost, convenience and confidence.

[prugone]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and tips. I found the replies from other Dibbers and owners very interesting.