Originally Posted by
xracer
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.
Xracer I totally get it and struggle with this issue as a villa owner. I generally only rent villas that have recent good reviews from multiple sources (who have written more than 1-2 reviews) or I go through a major agency. Here I went the agency route (new agency for me, but a major one), which had not failed me before.
I asked for a refund of course, since we refused to stay there even a night. The "major agency" I am dealing with has thus far offered to send daily housekeeping as "compensation".
I told them I am going to post the pictures all over the internet. We'll see what ultimately happens.