As our site is a venue for online advertisement, we are not involved in bookings or financial transactions between advertisers and travellers. We can only provide you with the information that is already available on an advertiser’s listing. We have a team dedicated to monitoring listings, and we take action on suspicious listings and those with poor rental practices. We offer the following programs to protect our site users when booking holiday rentals on our site: OwnersDirect .co.uk Europ Assistance insurance OwnersDirect.co.uk Europ Assistance Carefree Rental Guarantee Basic Rental Guarantee from HomeAway At the bottom of each advertisement, you will be able to see how long the owner has been advertising with us. The longer an owner has been advertising on our site, the less likely they are to be suspicious. We also recommend speaking to the owner on the phone before finalising your booking as this can also remove some concerns. Most will be happy to discuss their property and the surrounding area in detail and it will enable you to ask any outstanding questions. Also, feel free to ask the owner to provide you with references. It is always a good idea to exchange booking forms and/or contracts for each of you to sign to protect yourself in the event of any problems. If the owner does not give you a booking form straight away, do not worry, as some owners choose not to have booking forms but to have everything in emails, for example. If that is the case, just ask for one with all the terms and conditions of the booking, what happens if you have to cancel or the owner cancels, deposit amount, cancellation policies, etc. Please visit our Security Centre for more best practices you can use to gauge the legitimacy of a holiday home owner or manager and their property. If you are still concerned about a particular property, we suggest that you contact the owner directly, or search for a different property that meets your criteria. Additional resources Recommended payment methods |