Originally Posted by
KPhill
Eamus, Deathscar and Makos:
For your collective amusement:
I was on here a week ago gloating about all my wonderful villa finds at $10k/week. Of course, cosmic justice being swift and severe, my luck came to an end less than a week after my posts. I checked into my villa in Uruguay last night and it was filthy - wife refused to spend the night there.
Now I am at Playa Vik spending $2500/night, feeling like a chump! Although I will admit that Playa Vik is gorgeous and very unique.
And here, you've put your finger on one reason why some people shy away from private villas. With a good hotel/resort, if things are not perfect, one can usually depend on getting some sort of service recovery. This is often not true with private villas.
Many owners of villas do not even accept credit cards, so if there is a misrepresentation on the part of the villa owner and one has already paid but justly refuses to stay there, one cannot even dispute the charge. I know someone who was in a similar situation and took the owner of the villa to small claims court in the USA to get her money back (and she won).
Which isn't to say that all villa owners are disreputable - far from it. But if you are unfortunate enough to rent from one that is less than honest, it really can create a complicated and unpleasant situation.