Peace of Mind

i know many people have asked the same questions
Is this all as good as it sounds?
will the villa be reserved for me when i get there?
is there really a villa?
how safe is this transaction?
is it a scam?
ive contacted a villa owner, and all that is left is for me to make the payment. I am a virgin at this. and dont know anyone that has done this before. my family and i are going there for xmas, and i dont want it to be the worst xmas ever.
please.... i need some peace of mimd from anyone that is familiar with the Hampton Lakes community. i am looking at the number 1036 on villasflorida.com
i feel its too much risk on my end, and none at the time for the owner.
if anyone has stayed at this villa, or in that community, please resond to this very stressed out lady trying to plan a vacation.
thanks to all

If you booked through this site or one of the sister sites, which Villas Florida is, you can relax and look forward to your holiday.

All the villas advertised on these sites have to be verified to prove ownership every six months.
If you have any questions ask the owner, after all that is what we are here for, to help make all your Florida dreams come true.

Have a fantastic time.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You really don't have anything to worry about when booking a home through Orlando villas and their sister sites. As Paula says all homes have to be verified every 6 months to keep our homes active on the advertising sites.

The big plus with booking direct with an owner is you get to stay in the home you have chosen and not one alocated on arrival, your children can pick which bedroom they want to sleep in and you can picture yourselves have a drink by the private pool.

Why not ask the villa owner to give you a call, they can tell you all about their lovely home and I know they won't mind doing this at all. In fact most of us owners like nothing better than talking about our homes and all that Florida has to offer you during your vacation.

Have a wonderful vacation, I'm sure you will love staying in a vacation home in Florida.

As Paula has said, you need not worry about whether your villa exists or if it is owned by the person you hope to rent from. Thankfully you have chosen a site which is owned by people who you can trust. I am afraid that there have been instances of scam villas on e-bay for instance - but as you know, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is!

So rest assured that your holiday is in good hands.

As for you taking all the risk and the owner taking none, I am sure if you thought about this you would realise that actually the villa owner takes a huge risk each and every time they allow guests to stay in their much loved homes, which are worth an absolute fortune compared with a villa rental. Remember, they, too, have no way of knowing if you are who you say you are, and no way of verifying this. It is all about trust on both sides.

You are absolutely right to ask questions. I am sure your owner would be only too pleased to answer you fully - I know we would. We love answering questions, and will do everything we can to allay any fears as we have absolutely nothing to hide. We like it when prospective guests take an interest in our home and we offer as much support as we can. That is the great advantage of renting direct from a villa owner on a reputable site such as this. In fact, we would not rent our home to anyone we did not speak to directly, on several occassions. We build up a rapport with all our guests over many months prior to their stay, and that is very important.

I am sure you will have a wonderful holiday in your villa, and I wish you a superb time.

is there anything that will guarantee me when doing this trasaction?

I can vouch that Hampton Lakes is a lovely community. We have our home there and in fact will be over for Christmas so might see you around.

The site owners check that the people who advertise on here do actually own their homes every 6 months so I am sure you will have no problems.

To tyr and put it in perspective, you may be trusting several hundred dollars to the owners but they are trusting you with their home worth several hundred thousand dollars. If the owner has a facility to take credit card payments you could arrange that if you are really worried, even paying the extra charge is worth it for peace of mind that you have a secondary recourse should something drastic go wrong. We've all been in the same situation ourselves at one time or another but if you ring or ask the owner to ring you personally, I'm sure once youve spoken you will feel more reassured.

Why not talk to your villa owner? I am sure they could set your mind at rest. They could also put you in touch with their Management Company who could also vouch for them. That might be helpful as you are obviously anxious about booking this villa.

The owners of this villa have been advertising on our site for over 4 years. We have referred quite a few guests to them and not had any complaints.

Most villa owners rely on sites such as ours to obtain many of their bookings, so are not in the business of operating scams or dodgy transactions, else they would not survive (and we would have prevented them from advertising with us).

i have asked him to give me the contact info for the management co. but he wont until its paid in full. also i explained im looking for a specific location, since i have relatives in orlando and need something not too far, but he wont give me any info. im starting to think hes not interested in renting.
other owners have given me this info, but are too far. i dont understand why he wont give me the info, if for years people already know where the house is. he wont even give it to me after i give the deposit.
any ideas?

Hampton Lakes is on Hway 27, just south of the 192 and north of the I4.

The villa owner is correct in that no address information would be given out to guests until full payment is received. As stated above, Hampton Lakes is on the H27 and this would be enough information to determine if the location is close enough to your relatives. [msnsmile2]

We dont give villa info out untill full payment is recieved This is the norm
Dont worry everything will be fine when you get there & have a great Xmas vacation
Carol

Whilst we, too, do not give out address information until after the full balance is paid, I cannot see any reason why you should not talk to the Management Company for reassurance, though of course they will not give you the address either.

As has already been said, you know where the development is so that should give you a good idea of how near you will be to your relatives. Knowing the exact road will only pinpoint it to a minute or so from the entrance to the community.

I would think from a security point of view, that no owner would give out the full address of their villa until the villa rental has been paid in full. We have booked for the first time through this site for April 2008, we are staying on the Cumbrian Lakes community, we have paid our deposit & we haven't been told the full villa address yet, in fact it mentions that the full villa address and directions will be sent via email approx one week before we travel. We first contacted Joyce via telephone after sending in a request for her villa, she was very nice & helpful on the telephone, happy to answer all the questions we had. I can understand your worries about booking online, i have read about alot of scams on the net, but after looking around this forum for months i'm sure you will have nothing to worry about booking through a link from this site.

Hi Evelyn
I have no vested interest in this site and i am not a villa owner, just a holiday maker like you.
I have just booked a villa through this site for the 4th time,the first being in 2002.
I have only ever been given the full address when i have paid in full. You can trust this site 100%,what is happening to you is perfectly normal. The owner isnt being evasive its the way it is done.
Book your holiday at your chosen villa, you wont be disappointed.

Dave

i'm not a villa owner either and i totally agree with Dave, we're now onto our 3rd booking through OV and i wouldn't hesitate recommending one of the villa sites above to friends

thanks to all that replied. i now feel safer about the process.
can someone please tell me where on the site i can find a list of the safe sister sites.
thanks

Top of the page, second line and the first four links take you to four "sister" sites....you will be safe on these.

Having rented several villas off these sites - I would not hesitate to recommend the sites to anyone.
I'm sure you will have a great time in a lovely villa - try not to worry