"Home from Home" (Accommodation in general)

Member Name: Trevor15

Product:	Accommodation in general
Date:	11/06/01 (279 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not tied, may be cheaper than a package holiday, Own pool

Disadvantages: Have to organise flight and insurance yourself

Wouldn't it be nice to own one of those picture-perfect holiday villas. You know the kind, marble floors, a cascading orange grove, swimming pool, fragrant Jasmine framing the door and windows, located in some strange and exotic land...? Well, you may be able to. . .for a week or two at least.

With the holiday season about to enter overdrive, travel agents are full of holidaymakers thumbing through brochures, giddy anticipation warming their faces. You can almost hear the smiles as a reprieve from the 9 - 5 becomes more than a Monday morning wish. Just have to decide on which hotel and resort and they're off. But a little more investigation, a couple of telephone calls and their two weeks' clemency from the humdrum of everyday living could be that little bit more opulent and memorable. Instead of that high-rise apartment, complete with slatted beds and other nasties, they could be luxuriating in their own private pool in the grounds of their own private villa. - And it's not as expensive or as out of financial reach as some may think!

Last year our friend and his wife offered us the use of their villa in the Algarve. "Just tidy round for us and make sure everything's OK and we'll call it quits for the rental money." An offer too good to refuse. I'd spotted and booked a couple of cheap flight the month before, arranged car hire and was just waiting for the day of departure. Foolishly I'd given him the wrong date and when corrected, it clashed with the dates other friends had booked. Now, if they didn't have two snotty-nosed, under 10 gremlins in tow, we might have gone anyway, but the thought of a couple of weeks waking up to screaming and whining put me off completely: "Mummy, I hate you. . .But Daddy said. . . Daddy, tell him. . . Mummyyyyyy" etc., etc., etc. does not bode well with a hangover, of which I was intending to have plenty. Therefore, we had 10 days to find somewhere
to live or lose the price of the flights and car hire.

I checked through several brochures for a private villa but with the travel agent's premium loaded onto the rental price, it became prohibitive. Not one to be defeated, I started trawling the Net and came across Owners Direct. (Now, as this is not a review of a particular site, I'll just give a quick overview of what they have on offer at the end of this op). We were fortunate in that we found a villa close by our original destination for £350 per week, not bad for a 3 bed detached villa, sat on the apex of a hill and surrounded by mango groves, lemon trees and wild bunny rabbits chasing the leaves by the front door. (Ahh Bless). All the contact details of the owner were on site so a quick call and the deed was done. Two weeks' of unsurpassed bliss in the Algarve was ours. Over the following week the owner faxed over details of the villa, directions, places to eat, drink and be merry, places of interest, etc. all to ensure that we could plan our trekking beforehand and not waste a minute of our holiday. She even agreed that we could keep the villa until 6pm on our date of departure so that we weren't stuck around the airport for hours on end. The owner even phoned us before our flight to say that if we got lost, to ring her and she would come and collect us.

The villa was self-contained, had a washing machine, microwave, oven, fridge/freezer, crockery, cutlery, wood for the open fire, fresh linen. . . basically everything you would need at home. The pool was for our exclusive use, the fruit of the mango and lemon trees for our feasting and a whole host of local information in the box for us to read. Marvellous! Couldn't ask for more.

This is not the first villa holiday we've had, though. A few years ago we booked a villa in Orlando at £300 per week. As there was 3 of us, accommodation worked out at £100 for the week - and what accommodation it was too - supe
rb. The Algarve holiday worked out at £350 each per fortnight, but if we had gone with friends, bearing in mind it had 3 double rooms, two bathrooms, then the cost would have been about £55 each per week for accommodation (based on 6 sharing). Not bad, eh?

Obviously when you book a package holiday, the details are taken care of on your behalf, such as flights, care hire and stuff. Going it alone on a villa holiday you need to find your own flights and car hire and literally co-ordinate everything. This isn't as daunting as it sounds. A few clicks of the mouse and you can secure the flights and likewise with the villa. A bit of holiday insurance and that's it; you're ready. Even adding the price of flights onto the cost of villa accommodation will probably still come to less than a simple package deal at your local travel agents. Think of all the extras you pay for with a package deal: lunches for a family of four, say £20 per day, times that by 14 and your holiday price has immediately increased by a whopping £280.00. Having a villa you can shop at the local market and eat at home (if you feel like it) for a tenth of the price. All in all a villa holiday can in fact be cheaper than your usual fortnight away but with the added benefit of lovely and private surroundings. Before you book your next jaunt, check out some of the villas on offer. . .you might be pleasantly surprised.

Oh yeah, the holiday and the villa were perfect!


Owners Direct www.ownersdirect.co.uk

The web page is simply a shop window. Each villa / property is privately owned and you book direct with the owner.

~~~Areas Covered~~~
Spain, Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Portugal, Madeira, Gozo and Florida.

~~~Accommodation~~~
Villas, apartments, cottages, farmhouses and guest houses.

~~~Cost~~~
From £250 per week, per property (unless otherwise stated)

~~~Price includes~~~
All utilities, maid (unless ot
herwise stated), private pool, bed linen, washing machine and everything else you would expect to find in a house.

~~~Web Pages /content~~~
Pictures of villas both inside and out. Flight details. Insurance. Airport parking. Currency converter. Details of wheelchair accessibility. Weather forecast. Properties for sale.

~~~Things to watch out for~~~
Some property owners make separate charges for varying occupancy. Some charge for heating the pool. Some provide SKY TV, requiring you to take your own card (check the legalities first!). Ensure the property is available until you need to leave for the airport as you don't want to be hanging around for hours with kids in tow.

~~~Main Tip~~~:
If you find a property you like and intend to go quickly, e-mail the owner and bargain. Better they have some income rather than none at all.



PS In deference to Celandine (see commentary) and all under 10s in the world. . . .not all of them are 'snotty' ;-)

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