FAQs about pricing and fees

Who do you book through?

A handful of management companies, and the list is closed to anyone I have not travelled through myself. They run villas of this kind for a living, and they hold them on terms I have read.

A villa is not here because it exists. It is here because one of those few holds it, and because it clears the Standard.

Is anything here a hotel?

A few of the villas stand inside a hotel or a resort. I list one only where the villa is taken whole and is yours for the week, with its own door, its own pool and nobody else in it. What a hotel changes is what surrounds you, not what you have.

Where the court belongs to the resort rather than to the villa, the villa page says so in its first question rather than leaving you to find out. A villa with no court of its own does not go on this site at all.

Do you add a markup or a booking fee?

No. You pay the villa's own rate, with nothing of mine on top of it. My commission is paid out of what its management company or booking platform already charges.

So what is added to the rate?

Whatever the management company adds, and it differs between them. Some quote a week with the cleaning and the taxes already inside it. Others charge cleaning separately, or tax on the booking fee. I find out which before I quote, so the figure I come back with is the figure you pay.

Where I have read a live quote for a villa, the lines are on that villa page under the price.

Why does the same villa cost different amounts in different places?

Because a villa is often held by more than one management company, and each sets its own fees on top of the same rate. I quote through the one I work with, and I tell you which it is and what it adds, so you are comparing like with like.

What happens when I take the whole retreat (meaning the hideaway, concierge, driver, chef and coach)?

The villa is booked with its management company, the way every villa here is. In Portugal the concierge, the driver, the chef and the coach are mine to arrange, and they reach you on one invoice from me. So you settle the villa, and you settle with me, and there is nothing else to chase.

In Spain, Italy and South Africa those four come through the short list of concierges I work with directly, the same way the villas do. I plan the week with them and tell you who is holding which part of it before you commit to anything.

Who am I booking with?

The villa is contracted through its management company, with their agreement and their protections. I plan and hold your week alongside it.

Who holds the deposit?

The villa's management company, never me. The villa sets the figure and it is written into your agreement before you book, so you see it before you commit to anything.

Is it charged, or held?

Usually held. Most villas take a card hold rather than a payment and release it after you check out. Where one takes it by transfer instead, it comes back once the villa has been looked over.

What comes out of it?

Damage, and anything the villa has to put right after the week. Most weeks end with nothing taken. If something is deducted I will ask the villa for the detail and send it to you.

Can I move my dates?

I will always try to move your week with no penalty, and I do that asking myself. Whether it moves depends on the villa's calendar and the owner.

What are the cancellation terms?

They are the villa's, and they vary. At the firmest end a villa gives you a full refund for the first day after booking and holds the week after that; others work to a sliding scale as your dates come closer. The terms for your villa are in the agreement, and I will walk you through the shape of them before you sign anything.

Why not one policy across the collection?

Because I do not own the villas, and a single policy would mean inventing terms the owners have not agreed to. What I can do is tell you the terms in front of you, plainly, and ask on your behalf when something changes.