Trust & Safety
What to consider before booking?
Always make sure you use a secure payment system and you know the company you are booking with.
Here is a quick checklist of things you may like to consider before booking!
Quick checklist
- A local office for easy & direct contact.
- An accessible company phone number.
- A 24hr call out service for your immediate needs?
- A guarantee of personal management and cleaning services.
- Does the company contract the owner directly?
- Does the checkout process look secure? See right!
- Can the company answer detailed questions about the property & location?
- Will the company let you pay by Credit Card?
- Will you receive an immediate card payment receipt & Booking form?
We can answer Yes to everyone of these questions.
Be safe with your booking and holiday, run the checklist first! If in any doubt then phone the company and ask all the relevant questions!
BOOKING DIRECT ENSURES BEST PRICE & BEST ACCOMMODATION
Why book with us?
There are lots of companies and owners offering rentals on the Italian lakes and this can be very confusing when searching for that ideal holiday home!
You will see our portfolio advertised across many websites where we place adverts and like other businesses we also have agents. You can however, do no better than going directly to the management company, if they handle bookings as well.
We cover all elements of a rental on the lakes, from boat hire, to organising excursions, spa days, wine tasting and more. The following will give you some highlights of why you should consider booking direct with us!
Secure Payments
One of the most important parts of any booking is how you pay, there are online elements to a booking you need to be careful of. The payment site/website needs to have an "https", address, not just an http. This will often be coloured as well see below.
If you pay by Credit card you are covered by the "Consumer Credit Act" or variations depending on country and therefore the card provider is also liable in case of problems.
Be careful with use of your card however and make sure the transaction is in real time. If you do not receive an immediate card payment receipt from your bank via email, or the owner or company is given 24 hours to approve the payment, your details are stored somewhere!
Our card payments go straight into into the SAGE or other compliant payment gateways and card details are not stored. We bank in the UK, NL & CH and run £, EU and $ accounts for guests and owners. Also look out for the various other compliance and security logos. These are all worthless however unless the payment is processed through https"!
Book With Management
With so many websites vying for your money, the prices and passage of booking is often not clear. You may be booking with a pure advertising site who has no knowledge of a property at all and simply is good at getting to, or is paying to be, at the top of search engines! Managers and owners pay these sites hefty commissions for the service!
Look to see who you are booking with and if they are the company contracting the owner, if they are local, have local offices, if they manage the property and if they can answer questions directly about the holiday home.
If anything goes wrong, you know it will happen out of hours! You will need to have local contact and support details, be confident the company is close at hand and can be reached!
We have offices on the lakes, for example, Lake Como office is in central Menaggio and has a whole team of people to help guests enjoy their stay!
Know the Team
Any good company is made up of a strong team! Ask who they are and how it all works. Who handles the money, in what country, where is the office, who does the maintenance, who can you speak to for bookings and local contacts.
Our team is made up of multi-lingual specialists to ensure everything runs smoothly. If you would like to see some pictures of our team please visit our Lake Como Villas site.