Frequently asked questions

Already have a booking

When do I get directions and key collection instructions?

You will receive instructions when you have paid the balance and breakages deposit/waiver with your payment advice.

If you have not received the email login to your renters account and click on 'arrival instructions'. From there you will see the same details that would have been in the email.
You also have the full contact details of the owners at this point too. You will find them in your renters account under the 'contact member' button.

I need to cancel my booking?

Login to your account and go to your bookings area. Select the Cancel Booking button. If you have not paid the deposit there is no charge. If you have already paid the deposit this will not be returned to you. (Unless previously agreed by the owner) If you have already paid the balance then you may be entitled to receive a partial refund according to how the owner has set their cancellation terms. The system will calculate the amount you can expect to be refunded on the screen for you.

My credit card statement shows a different prices to that from the currency conversion rate I checked when I made the booking?

The currency conversion rate your credit card charges may differ slightly from those used when you used our currency converter, the credit card companies will use their own rates and may charge you a small handling fee.
We always charge the amount in the currency requested by the property owner.

How can I make a payment?

Login to your account and go to your bookings area. Click on the View Booking/Make Payment button. This will take you to a breakdown of the prices and due dates. Read and accept the terms and conditions. Once you have agreed to those the payment button will appear below. Click on this button to proceed to make a payment. You will then be presented with information in relation to the transaction and a section to enter your card details.

What currency do I pay in?

Some properties have their prices listed in pound sterling. Others are listed in Euros or Dollars. However, if you are paying in a foreign currency it should not affect the way you pay. All you have to do is pay by credit or debit card the same way you would for any other booking.

To find an accurate conversion rate visit www.xe.com.

How do we go about making a complaint about our booking?

In the rare event that you need to make a complaint regarding a booking please remember that the contract is between you and the property manager and not Villarenters. Villarenters cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies published by our members use of our software.

In the first instance therefore you must contact the member to make your complaint. Most issues are resolved if the members are notified as soon as possible. You must allow a reasonable amount of time for the member to put things right

Secondly, if you choose to you should use the review a property feature to express your opinion and allow the member to respond. Every booking receives an invitation to review a property by a link in an email or you can go to your property and click on reviews. According to how you score the property this may affect the property's ranking in Villarenters through the RentalSystems Index and will certainly affect their Customer Rating. Members generally take great pride in their reputation and will take poor reviews very seriously.

We also take complaints very seriously and monitor all reviews of properties. In extreme cases we may remove a property that has had consistently poor reviews

If after having exhausted efforts to reach a conclusion to a complaint we will make every effort to arbitrate between the two parties to the best of our capacity. If you feel that Villarenters needs to intervene please contact us via the following link http://www.villarenters.com/contact-us/

Can we transfer a payment from one booking to another booking?

You cannot transfer the payment from one booking to another one. We do not store any card details so a fresh payment must be made on the new booking, and a refund request to the owner of your original booking must be sent (charges may apply).

I have changed my email address since I made a booking what should I do?

Can we pay using several credit cards?

Unfortunately this is not possible at present.

What credit cards do you accept?

Mastercard, Visa, Amex, Switch Maestro, Visa Debit, Delta, Electron.
Please note: We cannot accept Maestro on bookings in Euros and Dollars.
Villarenters charge a small fee for processing card payments, this is indicated at the time of making your booking request and detailed within your booking confirmation email.

I want to amend my dates and/or party size?

If you want to change the dates or amend prices or amend the party details you need to contact the owner using the 'Contact owner' button on your renters area.

My booking has disappeared!

Have you registered with Villarenters twice? It is quite common for holidaymakers to have more then one account, one with the booking in and one which is disused. Please double check you do not have any further accounts with us.

Breakage deposits / Waiver

Making a booking

How do I make a booking?

Once you have chosen your ideal property and entered your dates and number of people in the party, you will need to re-calculate your quote. This will bring up a detailed booking quote.
Check the details of the quote and if correct then click continue. You will be prompted to login/register if you havent already. You will then be able to add all the relevant details.

Our owners are alerted by email and sms text message, and will either accept or decline your booking. If the booking is accepted you will be notified via e-mail. If the property is marked as instant booking then this step occurs immediately and you get an automated email giving you instructions on how to pay. Our owners require their customers to pay a deposit upon booking followed by the balance prior to taking occupation. If the booking is a late booking you may also be required to pay the balance at the same time as the deposit.

Most owners will also ask for a breakage deposit/breakage waiver at the same time as the balance is due. The exact amounts and timing will depend on the individual owner and the timings will be clearly presented to you on screen and by email.

The deposit/full amount must be paid before the said due date to secure the booking. After payment of the deposit you will both have access to each others contact details

Once the balance has been paid you will receive an e-mail containing arrival/key collection instructions so that you can access the property.

I have made a booking request, am I committed in any way?

A booking request does not commit you in any way. The contract only begins when you pay your deposit.

Who am I booking with?

You are booking directly with the owner or agent for a particular property and your contract is with them but all payments are handled by us, RentalSystems.com Ltd, a subsidiary of Teletext Holidays and the Daily Mail & General Trust plc.

Can I make a provisional booking?

All bookings are provisional until you make a payment. Once you make a booking request nobody else can book the property using the Villarenters booking system. After confirmation the member will give you a certain amount of time to pay the deposit. This will depend on the individual member. You will see this information when you make a booking request.

Why is it better to pay the Villarenters way?

Convenience - Pay online with a credit, Debit or Switch card.
Safer - You have the assurance of the Villarenters 100% money back gaurantee. Terms and conditions appy - please see for details.
Secure - You have the extra assurance of knowing that Villarenters holds onto your money until after your stay .
Clarity - You can log in to your personal account and review your booking status and make payments at any time.
Efficient - All our members use a state of the art booking management system.

I wish to change the dates of a provisional booking - what do I do?

The property owner can change the dates for you. Please contact the owner regarding this. If you login to your account and click on the contact owner button in your bookings area you will be able to send the owner a message advising them that you wish to change the dates of your booking.

How do I pay my deposit or make a full payment for my booking?

How safe is my money?

Although your booking contract is with the owner, we process the payment and only remit it to the owner or property manager after your stay. We offer our 100% money back guarantee allowing you to book in complete confidence.

The terms of the money back guarantee are as follows:

In the unlikely event that on arrival your accommodation is not available or is materially different from that displayed on the website, we will reimburse you in full, providing the following conditions are met:
a.You do not stay at the accommodation or any alternative accommodation offered by owner or property manager.
b.You contact us within 48 hours of start of your rental period.
c.You provide us with invoices for alternative accommodation within 7 days of the end of the booking period.
d.You have not already been refunded by the owner or property manager or reached agreement on a refund.

I have made a booking and waited 30 minutes and I havent had an email?

The 30 minutes response time refers to the email copy of your booking request that we send out automatically NOT the confirmation from the owner/agent.

If you dont get any email from us within 30 minutes you need to check that you have entered your email address correctly and that any spam filters have not blocked our emails, if you have checked these and still not received an email please contact us via the following link: http://www.villarenters.com/contact-us/

Why has my booking been declined?

This could be for a number of reasons,the owner can leave an explanation as to why they have declined your booking. If no reason was supplied you can request a reason by simply selecting their advert and send an enquiry asking them why they have declined your booking.

I have not received a booking confirmation from the owner. How long should I wait before I look for an alternative property?

Please allow owners between 2-3 days to respond to your booking request.

Most owners respond within 48 hours. As soon as you make your booking request the owner is notified by email. They will receive an email daily until they respond. We also send SMS messages to them.If you have not heard from them within this time period we suggest you search again, look out for "instant booking" properties as these can be booked immediately.

I am trying to book a property online that is marked available but it will not accept the start and finish date I want?

This is because the property manager / owner has set the property to start and end on specific days of the week, you could contact them via email (see can I ask a question before booking?) and ask them if they will accept your booking for your required dates. They will need to amend the property to enable you to book the dates required.

Can I make a booking by phone?

Villarenters is an online booking company and do not take telephone bookings. All availability can be accessed by clicking on the price availability tab on the property you are interested in. From there you can get an online quote and make a reservation. If you have a particular enquiry that is not in the details of the property listing you can contact the owner/agent directly by clicking on the owner info and enquiries tab on the property listing. Villarenters do not have any more information about the properties other than what is already on the site.

How do I use a special offer discount code / voucher code which I have received from the property owner or Rentalsystems?

Once you have selected the property and entered your dates, number of people and click book, you will be directed to a page which details the booking cost and extras. On this page insert your code in the "Special Discount Code" area. This should automatically implement your discount, if not then click on the "refresh quote" buttton.

Please note that once you have made the booking we will not be able to apply your voucher code.

Is this property available?

If you are interested in booking the property or want to check the availability then click the 'Request Booking' or the 'Book' button (as below) on the property advert.

This will then take you to the quote page. Here you can enter the start date, number of nights and number of people to check the prices and availability for the dates you have entered. Once you have entered these details then click on 'Re-calculate Quote' button.

If the selected dates are not available or the prices are not set then it will pop up a message box(as below) explaining this.
error Message Box

This error message will be shown above the drop down boxes where you selected the dates and entered the other details - as shown below.

In this case you can check availability for alternative dates or you can use the 'Contact owner' button as shown below on the advert page to contact the owner.

You can click the 'Continue' button to make a booking. Please note that you do not have to make the payment while booking, you can come back to your booking at a later stage to make the payment.

Can I ask a question before booking?

Yes, by email. Just click on the Owner info and Enquiries tab. It should not be necessary to enquire about availability as this information can be found by clicking on the Prices and Availability tab. To find out the price per week, just select the dates on the calendar and click on recalculate quote. If the prices are not set then please contact the member by clicking on the Owner info and Enquiries tab on the property website.

Website related

I can't get a price for the villa I want from the availability calendar?

There are two reasons why a property could be unavailable; the property has already been booked or the owner hasn't set their prices for these dates yet.

Below the property calendar, the prices per week for that month are listed. If, for the week in question, the prices are litsed then the property will have already been booked by someone else. However, if it says 'No prices set' then the owner hasn't set any prices for those dates and the property might still be available. To ask the owner to set their prices you can contact them directly by email by clicking on the Contact Owner tab and following the instructions.

What is the Rentalsystems Index?

The Rentalsystems Index evaluates the activity of the owner/manager. Essentially the more bookings that we process for the property, the more confidently we can recommend a property, plus, the more likely the calendar will be up-to-date and accurate. We also monitor the number of booking requests that are declined due to inaccurate calendar and/or pricing. We think you should have that information before you book to avoid disappointment due to inaccurate calendars.

The higher the score the more likely the availability calendar is accurate and up to date, the more likely you are to get a favorable response to your booking request and the more we can recommend a property.

That’s not to say a property with a poor RentalSystems Index is to be avoided – it’s just our way of telling you what we know about a listing. Note that new properties start off with a score of 50.

How do I know the reviews are genuine?

All customers that book through the RentalSystems booking engine (the system that powers all properties on Villarenters) are invited to rate and review their stay. Reviews from RentalSystems processed customers are the ones with star ratings. The ones without star ratings are ones that the member has uploaded from bookings made prior to joining RentalSystems or outside of the system. Therefore we can only guarantee the authenticity of the Star Rating reviews. All reviews are published whether good or bad though the owner has the right to reply or disapprove of a review - the review page shows the number of disapproved reviews.

How do reviews affect the RentalSystems Index?

Reviews from customers that have been processed through the system improve the members index as well as contributing to the customer star rating. The more favourable the reviews, the better the index rating. However please remember that the index is primarily about booking performance so reviews do not have a great effect on the points.

Reviews from guests added by the property manager(for example from guests who stayed previous to the property manager joining Villarenters or guests that have stayed but have not been booked through the system) do not give any index advantage.

We do this because we are only able to verify guests that have booked through the system and this gives customers a true assesment of what we know about the property.

I cannot login?

Please make sure that you are logging in on correct site. You need to login at www.villarenters.com/renter Your username is your email address. You can retreive your password using the forgotten password link on the login page above.

If you continue to have problems logging in then kindly contact us via the following link: http://www.villarenters.com/contact-us/. Please note that you will require to login or register to make an enquiry with the owner or a booking request.

I cannot remember my username/password?

Go to the account login, you will find a password reminder link here. Your email address is your username. In order to receive a password reminder, please submit your email address and the details will be distributed to you.