Booking terms

Authentic Villa Holidays Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 04499989, at 141 Crouch Hill, Crouch End, London N8 9QH.

We act as an agent for the owners and suppliers of the properties on this site. When you book, your contract for the property itself is with its owner, not with us. We arrange that booking on your behalf, hold your money for the owner, and pass it on to them.

What that means in practice: we are responsible for arranging your booking properly and for the things we tell you. The owner is responsible for the property and what happens in it.

A villa booked on its own is an accommodation booking, and is not a package holiday.

We do not sell flights and we do not sell flight-inclusive packages. Your flights are yours to book, direct with the airline or through a comparison site, and they stay separate from the booking you make with us. See flights and your booking.

A booking is confirmed when we have your deposit and have sent you a confirmation. Until that point, nothing is held.

Deposit

30% of the booking, unless the property's owner requires a different amount. We tell you which before you pay.

Booking fee

£30 per villa, non-refundable.

Balance due

10 weeks before the date you arrive.

Booking within 10 weeks

Payment in full at the time of booking, plus the £30 booking fee.

Late balance

A £20 administration fee, and the owner may treat the booking as cancelled.

Changing a booking

£30 per person, plus anything the owner charges.

We do not send a reminder when the balance is due. The date is on your confirmation; please diarise it.

Some properties are shown as on request. This means we check with the owner before we can confirm the reservation to you. Payment is taken and the booking confirmed within 48 hours if the property is available. If it is not available, you receive a full refund.

Cancellations must reach us in writing. The charge depends on how far ahead of your arrival date we receive it.

More than 56 days before arrival

You lose the deposit.

55 to 43 days

50% of the total booking cost.

42 to 29 days

65% of the total booking cost.

28 to 15 days

90% of the total booking cost.

14 days or fewer

100% of the total booking cost.

The £30 booking fee is not refundable at any point. This is why we recommend arranging travel insurance when you pay your deposit rather than nearer the time.

Most owners take a security deposit against damage, usually between €200 and €300 per property, collected locally on arrival. It is returned after your stay once the property has been checked.

Where a deposit is returned by bank transfer or card refund, allow up to eight weeks. If a return is delayed beyond that, tell us and we will chase the owner on your behalf.

We strongly recommend comprehensive travel insurance covering cancellation, medical costs and personal liability, arranged when you pay your deposit. It is not a condition of booking, but cancellation charges begin eight weeks before travel and an uninsured cancellation is an expensive one.

Tell the owner or their local representative at the time. Nearly everything (a broken appliance, a pool not cleaned, a missing set of keys) can be put right the same day if someone knows about it.

If it is not resolved, contact us while you are still there, on +44 (0)20 8888 6655 or sales@authenticvillaholidays.com. A problem we hear about during your stay can usually be fixed; one we hear about afterwards can only be argued over.

If you want to take a complaint further after you return, write to us and we will put it to the owner on your behalf. Because we act as agent, a claim about the property itself is ultimately against its owner.

We are responsible for arranging your booking with reasonable skill and care, and for the accuracy of what we tell you about a property. Where we fail in that, our liability to you is limited to twice the cost of your booking.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded. Your statutory rights as a consumer are unaffected.

Property details, amenities and distances come from the owner and are published as supplied. Where we describe a property in our own words, the underlying facts still come from the owner’s listing.

Owners occasionally change things between seasons. If a feature is decisive for your booking (a heated pool, a lift, ground-floor sleeping, a particular bed configuration), tell us before you book and we will confirm it in writing.

The number of people staying must not exceed the occupancy on your confirmation. Owners can and do refuse entry where a party arrives larger than booked.

• Events, parties and commercial photography need the owner's written agreement in advance.
• Pets are only permitted where the property says so.
• You are responsible for damage caused during your stay, beyond fair wear.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.