100% Legal & Ethical Villas

Many western tourists are favoring villas over hotels these days because the former often give you more comfort, authenticity and flexibility. The trouble is though so many vacation villa rentals operate illegally without operational licenses and thereby cheat the local community out of tax and other revenues. That is why we have asked all of the villas listed here for direct reservations on our site if they possess a valid current operational license for the country their villa is located; the information they declare we show on the appropriate villa web page so you know. We do not force the villa owners or their sole management agents to make this declaration but you can decide for yourselves why some villas have decided not to make this statement. In addition, if you are aware a certain villa on our site which has claimed to have an operational license does not, let us know and we will take action against them. How do you know if a villa has a valid operational license? They have to display a copy of it prominently in the main entrance area.

The problems with unlicensed villas are a) Because they do not pay taxes and other government fees, they have an unfair financial advantage (about 25%) over villas who operate lawfully; so you need to add 25% to an unlicensed villas rates to get a "like-for-like" comparison with a lawful villa. b) Because they rob the local community of tax and other revenues which go to run local schools and hospitals; if you have every visited a public school or hospital in SE Asia, you would never stay at a tax cheat's villa. c) Because unlicensed holiday villas work outside the law, they also work outside local regulations, so their facilities may not be up to standard, even dangerous. d) Unlicensed villas are subject to closure by the local authorities; as many villas require guests to pay a substantial deposit, guests may lose this (travel insurance policies may not cover unlawful villa closures) and even turn up to find the villa they booked closed. There are risks and other downsides to booking an unlicensed vacation villa that may well greatly outweigh any savings you make over booking at a fully licensed holiday home rental.

Please also see our page on 100% Ethical Hotels as some of the issues detailed there apply to villas also.