Direct Reservations?

When you inquire / enquire with a hotel or villa via our site, the enquiry / inquiry goes directly to them. If you make a reservation with them, you pay them, not us. In most cases hotels do not charge a deposit and require you to pay only upon check-out. In most cases villas will require a deposit as they do not have the flexibility of taking unsecured reservations like hotels as they only have one or a few villas.

The first exception to the above come with certain villas which do not deal with bookings themselves and have instead appointed a sole management company to handle this for them; we make the point we allow sole management agents to list properties on our sites, not everyday unsecured villa sales agents. The second exception to the direct reservations rule is when you book a hotel or villa via our industry wholesale partners Hotel Club; you will know when you are booking with them because you will chose to do this and be transferred to their web site. Hotel Club normally do not take a deposit from you and typically arrange your booking on the basis you pay the hotel upon check out; this is why we chose to work with them rather than more risky prepaid wholesale agents.

It is a fact many hotels have large variations of quality within a room category and generally give the worst ones to tour group guests, while giving the better rooms to direct guests. In addition, if you have not yet paid the hotel and get shown a room that is not to your satisfaction, you are more likely to be able to do something about it. Paying in advance is generally not a good idea, not just for financial security and peace of mind, but also because you are likely to get a higher standard of room and better location if you book on the basis of payment upon checkout. In addition, if you book a hotel room or villa directly, you are in prior contact with the management and can likely negotiate the better room or villas, perhaps with the best views, as a part of your reservation.

First, you are not paying a 3rd part travel agent who may well be uninsured and you have to take on trust will pay the hotel / villa on your behalf without hitch. Second, many if not all agents and hotels cheat the tax man and their staff when you pay in advance by claiming the amount you pay them includes tax and service, yet the full percentage or even any money fails to be given to the local tax man (taxes pay for public schools and hospitals) and / or hotel staff; there is even a travel industry name for committing this fraud, the "Twin Book System" (one set of dishonest official accounts, one set of honest accounts for the directors eyes only). This dishonesty is often why advance payment rates are lower than payment upon checkout; because you have not paid all or even any of the tax or service charge you are meant to.