payment options for deposit

[kmshark]

Hello, I have rented in Orland before and don't recall being asked to wire money to a bank or sending personal checks. Generally I dealt with an entity that managed the property and I was able to give them a credit card.

Now most of these places are owned by people outside the country and they are requesting money wired, or checks mailed, or the best option is Paypal, but with a surcharge.

What is considered "safe" amongst all the options, what should be acceptable to protect myself as a consumer?

[christhear]

If you are renting a villa form one of the 4 sites associated with this forum your money will be prefectly safe as all villas are verified every six months.
As an owner I only accept payment by cash or cheque as credit card payments involve a large surcharge.
You could ask the villa owner for details of their management company in the US and they could verify for you that the villa exists.

[SteveandJan]

Our guests have sent us cheques and have wired funds to our account. As Christine has said any of the villas on the 4 sites are all verified.

[kmshark]

OK.. thanks for the quick responses. I do feel better - even though I was able to use my CC in the past. The property is one of those associated with this site.

We did ask for information about the management company but haven't gotten their reply yet.

[Kazzie]

Not all management companies will take credit card payments because of the charges involved, all of the options you have mentioned should be secure when booking a villa from this site.

[Steve Addy]

The OP asked this question
"What is considered "safe" amongst all the options, what should be acceptable to protect myself as a consumer?"

Can you please tell me how being verified as an owner on here guarantees the customers money? I got the impression that all you did was ensure that advertisers owned the property? What would happen if the villa was repossesed after the final balance had been paid?

I have been to Floida 12 times, 7 of those times I stayed in a villa rented directly from the owner and always paid by cheque or bank transfer.

Never again though. After what's just happened to XL, everything will be by credit card only.

I appreciate that the villa owners need to get bookings, but posting that
"your money will be safe, because all villas are verified every six months" is misleading.

[blott]

Having to verify our homes every six months proves that we actually own it - someone who had their home repossessed wouldn't be able to do that. So perhaps not quite as misleading as you may think.

Funnily enough, the home owners who rent their homes via companies like XL who paid the owners peanuts are more likely to have their homes repossessed than owners on the OV sites who take, in the main, a very great interest in their homes and guests that they book for themselves.

XL was a 'pile them high and sell them cheap' type of company, which is a general philosophy and almost certain to go pear shaped at some time or another when something tipped it over the edge, in this case the fuel price increase (or so we are informed).

Having said all that, if it makes anyone more comfortable with booking an OV home, then most home owners can accept credit card payments by one means or another.

[Appledore]

Something else you could perhaps do to cover yourself is to take out an annual holiday insurance that would cover you in this instance.

Elaine

[CERICROWLEY]

As blott has said, We know that on occasion some guests would like the satisfaction of paying by credit card, which is understandable by owners here, and we accept that guests would like the security of their money paid to us. And quite a number of us do take credit cards in some way or another, but please don't forget we are not a major company etc and do not have the means that some of these do to take the credit card directly, so using a third party to take the card via paypal etc is the best option for us to give you peace of mind as well, but this cannot be done without further expenses of surcharges.

This is why owners like to give potential renters all the options of payment and let the renter choose for themselves.

Also don't forget we are trusting you with our property as well, so security of assets works both ways as well. For the small amount of security deposits that owners take we trust you to take care of ours say $450,000 home.

[Snapper]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by kmshark
What is considered "safe" amongst all the options, what should be acceptable to protect myself as a consumer?[/quote]
Here's a slightly different twist on your question that hopefully answers it.

I'll start by explaining why XL and TCD have just gone bankrupt. It's actually quite simple. It isn't because of the rising cost of fuel. It isn't because of the credit crunch. It isn't because of some debt restructuring that didn't happen. It's because they didn't charge enough for the products they were selling. I'm aware that this might sound a bit harsh, but the blunt reality of the world today is that if a company sells a product for less than it costs them, eventually they will go bankrupt. That's as sure as death and taxes.

So in terms of protecting yourself as a consumer, my own personal advice would be to just do a sanity check on the cost of the villa you are renting. It doesn't matter if you are renting direct from an owner, renting via a travel agent, or renting as part of a package. If the deal sounds too good to be true ... well, you already know the answer ... it probably is. This suggests to me that the villa owner (or company responsible for it) is selling that product (the villa) at below what it costs them to own and operate it. Sometimes it will work out. Sometimes it won't. Personally I wouldn't risk my holiday on it because ultimately the end point for all such villas is the same. They'll get the orange stickers on the garage and eventually the bank will reposses them. Just like what's happened with XL.

I'm conscious that I may be able to upset an awful lot of people with what comes next, owners and guests alike, but if you want a ballpark figure to work with; if you are paying less than £500 per week for a villa, the owner is running it at a loss. The more below this figure you are, the larger the loss will be. Trust me! I own a villa. I know the figures. And if it were me I'd also be considering that figure as an absolute minimum.

If you are renting a villa through a tour company or as part of a package you need to increase this figure to about £700 per week. That's because travel agents, tour companies and likely a consolidator will all take their commission out. That's why it's heaps better value to rent privately.

To draw an analogy directly with airlines, folks might not like the prices advertised by the likes of BA, Virgin, etc. But come the morning those operators will still be flying.

So to answer your question, how can you best protect yourself as a consumer ... book a villa that you believe will still be there at the point you arrive in Florida.

The good news is that all the owners who frequent these forums know how to do sums and all run their villas hugely professionally. But don't take my word for it ... when you've selected a villa, give the owner a grilling about it. And if you don't like the answers, pick another villa. And apply that reasoning to whichever entity you book through, be it a travel agent, a tour company or direct with the owner. And if a tour company or travel agent cannot put you in touch with the owner ... move on to the next one. It's your holiday at risk if you don't!