hi all, looking for a 4 bed villa to rent from 25th dec 2011 to 2nd jan 2012.

have seen plenty on "direct" website but on enquiry they all appear to be booked up. wish they would update the site as it seems a waste of everyones time.

please contact me if you can help.

thanks.

Have you checked the Villas link on the left of this page ? Lots listed.

Also try:

www.holidaylettings.co.uk

www.holiday-rentals.co.uk

www.villaplus.com

thanks, yes i have seen the links.

we have a few times now been out on all inclusive deals but this year we fancied a change.

my mrs spent ages trawling through one site, spotted a few potentials and mailed for more info, after a few days with no reponse she phoned the number advertised and this is roughly how it went.

"yes madam we have seen your mail but we are only taking bookings for our clients from thursday to thirsday."

"oh! our closest airports only fly out on sundays (exeter) and tuesdays (bristol i think i remember) and we live in newquay."

"ah well you see, if we take bookings from thursday to thursday our clients can get 2 premium priced weeks over the christmas period so a sunday to sunday booking is not what we are looking for for our clients, we feel they would be happier with this situation."


so, greed and ignorance seems to be the order of the day! the great british rip off style seems to be travelling where ever there are brits in business. these people seem to think that only those who fly from specific airports in the uk can have a christmas holiday this year! discrimination? we think so.

to be fair we aint too bothered whether we stay in a villa or on a complex. our thoughts were (being as we ourselves have in the past been expats) to spend with the small business to help support the local economy rather than spend with the big companies
so, this is why i have asked on a forum to see if there are any actual owners about looking to rent direct.

some villa owners are going to miss out for sure with this kind of attitude from thier agents, surely 1 weeks booking is going to be better than 0 weeks booking (cornish logic).

there is no justification other than simple greed for this attitude, "good for them we say" we have made notes and will never use that agency for anything in the future, not that it will affect them in anyway i'm sure, but we are pretty fed up spending time looking for a simple holiday to find this starring us in the face.

there, rant over!

we are going to give it another few days and if all else fails
"all inclusive" here we come.

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/ and http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/ will put you in touch with the owners, nit an agent.

Although you may find a lot of owners will use their villas themselves over the Christmas period.

Good luck.

thanks robert, yes we quite understand the owners thing, we would do the same to be honest. it was more to do with the attitude of the agency, it could cost the owners lost revenue in these difficult times.

anyhow thanks to your links we are all sorted now, have found a very accomodating chap who seems understanding and flexible with his dates.

thank you for your help.

Glad to be of assistance, it's what these forums are for.

Enjoy your holiday.

Greed and ignorance and the great british rip off?!!
Thats a bit harsh!!

No villa will struggle to rent itself out for the two weeks over christmas so you are asking someone who you don't know in struggling economic times to wave goodbye to a weeks rental income just to fit in with your flight plans?!

Change over day in Lanzarote since time began pretty much has always been Thursday.

THink you are being a touch unreasonable!!

If you want to escape AI, why not use an aparthotel where you feed yourself, or go B&B or half board?

no probs boss if you think i am, that is yooms perogative..... however, you are saying that i should tow the line and go on holiday on a thursday? real life just aint like that i'm afraid, i didnt want particularly to fly on these dates but my options are pretty much that or nuthin.
the "new world order" maybe your thing but i dont subscribe to that.

anyhow, as you can see i am all sorted thanks to the 99.9% of helpfull posters in this thread . my grumble was about the way the chap from the agency spoke. READ IT AGAIN!

you obviously did not read the full storey and seem a tad argumentative/protective, these are for reasons we can only guess at and i do love a bit of banter so am not backing off from you.

so, according to you, all villas will easily be rented out this christmas then you say times are tough........have a word with yourself!

if you want to play at mindless digging bring it on!

New world order?! We are talking about villa rentals not the chinese economy!

As an example I go skiing for a long weekend in Jan feb as I can never get a week off. Obviously most people go for a week - so rather than go off on a rant about how greedy hotel owners are for not changing their normal way of running a business which suits 99.9% of people for my specific needs I email loads of them with my requirements and ask them to contact me nearer the time when they now their bookings.

And everytime they have come back offering me weekends nearer the time.
Times are tough - so the owners will be wanting to fill their boots in the peak times to make up for the lack of off peak bookings.
Well done for getting yourself sorted but just wading in because you didn't get your own way initially and not understanding the typical flight patterns isn't my fault!!

and i did exactly that my friend

then i came here to ask also

and then posted my experience and my opinon as a response to a reply, however you have seen fit to try and spank me for this to get a rise i guess (your trolling skills are weak luke) to which i am more than happy to go along with to a point. this point has now arrived cos i feel the knee jerk reaction you had to my post was just that and you have nothing left to go at me with.

i am all booked up now and cant wait to get back to lanzarote to spend some quality time with my family after a hectic and busy year in the rat race of britain, contribute to the local economy and return refreshed for another year of mayhem.

thanks again to the helpful posters, proof, if ever it was needed that the web has it's uses indeed.

love ya

Love you too but I don't understand half of what you are talking about considering you are the one who went off on one in the first place! Trolling - I haven't a clue what you are talking about - considering I am a regular on here in the first place and as I mentioned initially you were the one who put out the inflammatory comments in the first place.

Well, foodie, some on here would see you as a regular troll.

I, OTOH, am far too polite to comment.