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Experience with "Holiday Lettings" to book lodging?

Posted by (Boulder, Colorado, USA) on

Hi All,

Has anyone used Holiday Lettings by Trip Adviser to book lodging? What is your experience and opinion of this service?

The quotes I have gotten include a non-refundable booking fee, but booking.com and others do not charge fees. Do you think the Holiday Letting service is reasonable?

Also, the reservations require a substantial payment upfront and often it is not refundable. However, I am not sure if there are other options for booking in the French Alps.

I am looking for 4 nights in late March near Val d' Isere or a nearby town like Bourg Saint Maurice. Then another 4 nights in Les Menuires. Specifically, for March 23-27 and March 27-31, 2016. The resort lodging for most of the French ski areas have a 7 night Saturday-to-Saturday reservation requirement, so I am trying different search options to find lodging for 4 nights with a non-Saturday start day. Suggestions anyone?

Thanks,

Beth in Boulder

Posted by
16391 posts

Hi Beth---we spent a week in London last month in an apartment I rented through Tripadvisor/Holiday Lettings. (Not all listings on Tripadvisor are through Holiday Lettings; our Rome apartment was not). I don't remember a booking fee being attached but the apartment itself was well-priced sonIndidn't mind the total. There was also a refundable damage deposit of £200 which was charged to my card in advance and promptly refunded after then end of our stay ( their policy is 10 days after departure).

I chose to rent these two through Tripadvisor because I liked their payment guarantee policy and there were lots of reviews available. Everything was as represented and both properties were very nice. Communication with the owners (through the TA message system and then by phone was easy.

Both apartments required about 1/3 the total at the time of booking, and the rest about 20-30 days before departure. The advance deposit was non-refundable but we are quite accustomed to doing that for apartments booked through VRBO in the US and Canada, so do not resist. That is what trip insurance is for.

We have run up against that Saturday-to -Saturday full week requirement in popular resort areas in Switzerland and the Dolomites. I think Europeans are quite accustomed to is as that is how they vacation. It seems to be less common with private bookings like VRBO, Homeaway, etc. which is one reason I now look on those websites. Booking.com often lists apartments from many sources so perhaps if you are persistent you can find something there?

Posted by
437 posts

Thanks Lola,

It is good to know this is normal. Generally, we book rooms with free cancellation and do not buy trip insurance, so I am very hesitant to pay in advance.

With booking.com, I found a studio with kitchenette in Borg St. Maurice and we will stay there for 7 nights. From there we can take a funicular to Les Arcs and drive to Val d'Isere and Courchevel. So trading slope-side access for flexibility and a much lower nightly rate.

The Saturday start is very restrictive but common -- on the resort websites you can only pick Saturdays and on booking.com most of the places show as "not available" unless you pick a Saturday and select 7 or 14 days.

Thanks,
Beth

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