Owners Direct flooded with new properties in Pollensa

[roig cat]

I'm not sure what's going on, but it appears that Villa Parade may have flooded Owners Direct with their properties? (Or someone is using their properties as a scam?)

I have noticed quite a few of their properties are on now advertised on OD, under a different guise and with an inflated price!

I thought the OD website was for private owners not companies?

 

[JMD40]

I think that maybe you will find that maybe it is the owners advertising their properties due to possible changes in contracts with Villa Parade.

 

[roig cat]

They all have the same "owner"

 

[Hannah70]

Villaparade villas on Owners Direct

I have just had a look at the Owners Direct website and just as you say Roig Cat, it is full of Villaparade villas. I am a little worried because I have booked and paid for a villa through Villaparade (several weeks ago) and that same villa is now on Owners Direct and showing as available! I wish it wasn't a bank holiday weekend - I am going to have to wait until after the weekend now before I can telephone Villaparade.

It's a bit strange.

 

[Mark]

Does look a bit unusual

A property on villa parade that has been there for years:

Villa Parade - Property Dynamic

Same one now on Owners direct:

Family Villa 3515 in Pollensa, Mallorca



Sure someone will find out what's going on..

 

[pollensa]

Hi guys & a Happy New Year!

I really don't think that there is anything sinister going on here.

As I understand it, many of the UK Villa Companies such as Villa Parade obtain many or even all of their properties through local agents who deal directly with the local owners e.g. in Mallorca. These local agents may well advertise the same properties elsewhere.

This shouldn't cause any issues unless there is double-booking, so if you have already booked & see availability still advertised, do go back to the agent you booked through.

Of course, if you do experience problems, do post here.

 

[favie]

I know the name of the company, don't know if I am allowed to name but their properties are advertised, as Roig Cat mentions, on Owners Direct and also on a couple of other holiday webites...Holiday Rentals being one and I think Holiday Lettings at a much higher price!!! £600 (2wks) difference on one I required about....they did say they would match Villaparades price....but suggest folk check VP first!!!

 

[suzystew]

I thought that "Owners Direct" meant just that, villas direct from the owners. It is false to offer villas from companies. I have checked and there are approx 4 names holding all the villas. You can tell which are from companies because they have numbers, I suppose ref numbers. I liked O.D. because you felt you could talk to the owner of the villa you book. I have heard that many of the owners are very unhappy with this. A solution would be to have separate ways to search for villas, making it clear before you search, is it direct from an owner or from a property rental company. ...Oh I have gone on a bit sorry.

 

[favie]

Oh I have gone on a bit sorry.

No you haven't Suzy.....I feel exactly the same way, especially as THESE companies have there OWN website!! There are loads on there from this company,therefore so much more to trail through now!!

 

[eleanor]

We have advertised our villa with Owners Direct for many years but have now taken it away from their site and no longer happy to deal with this company or it's connecting companies.(Holiday rentals)
We had a disagreement with them regarding the fact that in our opinion, the selling point of their site was that it was owners dealing directly with renters only as per their name!
They are trying to get many rental companies and holiday organisations to advertise on their site and have put their prices up to reflect this. Obviously big business to them as they can charge a fee per property. We suggested that they made clear the difference between a company rental and a rental direct with the owner in overhead categories but they would not entertain this. Also Holiday Rentals is the same company.
We have decided to advertise our villa on Holidaylettings.co.uk as well as this site. Holiday lettings is (at the moment!) pushing for private owner rentals.

 

[BonysLad]

Was interested to read this and wondered if it was anything to do with declaring taxable income ?

I'm sure most property owners declare to either H.M. Government and/or the Spanish Govt depending on where the income is remitted as they are obliged to do under the laws of both governments .

The reason I raise this is that shortly before I retired from H.M. Treasury in 2008 software had been developed by H.M.R.C. to scan the internet for owners as opposed to companies advertising holiday property rentals .

It was being successfully project tested concentrating on Florida properties capturing both UK email addresses and telephone numbers .

Don't want to say anymore for obvious reasons but I know the intention was to " cast the net wider " .

Just set me wondering

BonysLad

 

[favie]

Interesting BL.....hell mend the tax dodgers

Interesting too Eleanor.....

My first enquiry to owners direct/greedycompany was for research purposes only... told them I would stick with VP which was a little fib as I generally book through the apartments on the forum.

Now this one is UNBELIEVABLE:
Villa Parade, one of their apartments, with hot-tub in Siller has been mentioned on here a few times. First & second week of May £895 reduced to £447, bargain!! Third week £895 reduced to £537, last week of May £1365 (no reduction so far)
This company(!!??) on their website and Holiday Rentals £1660 for the WHOLE of May. As I said, they have price match guarantee....but what about folk who haven't checked or don't know about Villa Parade....you have been warned! Their prices are away OTT!! I would love to name and shame them.

 

[smg]

Owners Direct, property nnnn £2120 pw, the regular rental site ( who we've used before, & are pretty good) less than 1/2 that - we booked it. Ok, poss a tad of late-ish discounting, but still.

& Owners Direct still showing availablity for 'our' week....

 

[favie]

Brilliant SMG.....glad to hear you weren't stung with OD

None of their properties show any bookings made for any dates on all the sites I mentioned but do on their own website.

 

[lollipop]

Yes Villa Parade are offering huge discounts but who is paying for it? if not the client then it must be the owners. My advice would be to deal directly with owners through this site or similar.

 

[Tonsyl]

I have been following this thread for a while and would agree that there is much confusion about pricing at the moment and there has been much discounting / loading of prices by some companies for some time. This year is the first time we have turned away from VP and, to be honest, we were put off by their tactics at the end of last year when we were bombarded with all sorts of offers IF we booked with them. This led us to doubt not only their but the general stability of "third party" booking outlets and the pressure they were exerting on the supplier, i.e. the owners. Not the least being that VP (probably not alone) now require payment considerably more in advance than they ever did and this is, I understand, not being passed to the owners until much later. We went direct to an owner, negotiated an agreed price for a long stay and both of us are happy. We paid a deposit and handed the balance to the owner on arrival, after we had been shown the apartment and were happy. I am sure that kind of service is not restricted to this one location or one owner and we will look to that kind of deal in the future.

 

[roig cat]

I have used the web site "Villarenters" recently to book accomodation. I like the way you can pay by debit/credit card. Admittedly it was for property in Portugal but I didnt notice any companies advertising.
Anyone used Villarenters for Pollensa bookings?

 

[eleanor]

I don't think there are many properties for Pollensa but quite a few for mainland Spain and and Portugal. There are many companies advertising on this site too.

 

[eleanor]

There are a number of privately owned properties on the vacationrentalpeople.com site.
Also of course this pp site offers many privately owned properties to rent. As been said before the advantage of dealing directly with the owner is that prices are often much lower and it gives the opportunity of building a good working relationship between the two parties which can only be good for both sides.
Shame owners direct have decided to take the route it has and changed its attitude - often happens when a company grows. It now needs to change its name too as owners direct is somewhat misleading.

 

[favie]

Reposted to the correct thread! Sorry!!