Travelore Report, Monthly In Print Since 1971: Villas

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Saturday, January 23, 2016

10 Of The Best Boutique Hotel Websites

The eco-retreat of Bambu Indah in Ubud, Bali, part of the i-escape collection

Whether it’s boutique B&Bs, budget pads, treehouses, or a glamorous hotel, these accommodation websites save you the trouble of trawling through endless internet listings

i-escape

Boutique accommodation website i-escape has a collection of more than 1,500 hotels, B&Bs, villas and guesthouses (in more than 50 countries) with destinations as diverse as Argentina, Zanzibar, Malaysia and Montenegro and prices ranging from budget to luxury. The site maintains that quality, rather than quantity, is the main focus and of all the properties that apply to be on the site only a few – such as the gorgeous Bambu Indah in Ubud, Bali, (from £63 per room a night) – will make the cut. There is also a dedicated Kids’ Collection for travelling families.
• i-escape.com

Doris and Dicky

Hotel Riad Al Jazira — Riad Al Jazira, Marrakech

This is a new website offering a handpicked collection of 500 affordable-but-chic hotels. Its philosophy of boutique on a budget – the average price band is around £100 a night – applies to everything from European city breaks to South American adventures. Each property in the portfolio has been chosen on merit and assessed by a team of anonymous reviewers. There are luxurious bargains to be had, such as a room in the atmospheric Riad Al Jazira in Marrakech from £64.77. It’s the perfect site for anyone who wants affordable style without spending ages trawling through long lists of hotel results.
• dorisanddicky.com

GoUnusual

GoUnusual features 345 hotels ranging price-wise from free (it has two hotels that simply ask for a donation) to one that costs £16,000 for exclusive use. Geographically, it covers everywhere except Antarctica, though apparently it is chasing the McMurdo base to try and find a location there. Its motto, “life less ordinary”, has led its team of contributors and freelancers to seek out travel experiences that make guests feel part of an adventure or a story linked to the places they visit. If, for instance, you’re looking for a kip in an igloo in Finland orthis treehouse near Bilbao in northern Spain.
• unusualhotelsoftheworld.com

Chic Retreats

The clue’s in the name: Chic Retreats curates beautifully designed hotels, villas and guesthouses subdivided into helpful collections such as budget chic, eco chic and safari chic (not to mention “hide and chic” if you’re really keen to get away from the crowds). There are about 700 places from which to choose, with prices ranging from £50 to £1,500 a night, depending on whether it is a pousada in Brazil, such as Ilha de Toque Toque (£83 a night), or a luxury suite in Rome.
• chicretreats.com

Mr & Mrs Smith

A company specialising in stylish boutique hotels, with a reputation for providing comfortable luxury, whether on a smaller budget or at a price. It only works with places that the team has visited personally. It was founded by London-based couple James and Tamara Lohan after they booked a romantic break and were disappointed with a characterless, uninspiring result. They decided to launch a booking service focusing on those quirky, charismatic, smaller independent hotels, such as Brody House in Budapest (£48.17 a night), which can be so difficult to root out amid a slew of internet listings.
• mrandmrssmith.com

Sawday’s

The Marulivo hotel in Pisciotta, Salerno is a 14th century monestary with sea views.

Family-run company Sawday’s promises to provide more than just a bed for a night; its emphasis on hotels that champion the local, the personal and the authentic, as opposed to the bland and the corporate, is underpinned by a commitment to sustainability. Founder Alastair – who has now passed the baton to his son – was a Green party candidate and it shows. All the hotels and guesthouses on offer have committed to source the food offered to guests from local, independent producers. Prices range from around €60 a night into the hundreds, with locations in Britain, France, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
• sawdays.co.uk

Further Afield

Further Afield began in 2010 at the time of the furore around gay couples being denied B&B accommodation in the UK. Its aim has always been to create a stylish collection of places to stay: small hotels, B&Bs and self-catering accommodation both in cities and off the beaten track, which welcome everyone – gay, lesbian or straight. Many, such as the Villa Mazamet in the traditional French market town of Mazamet in the Midi-Pyrénées, are affordably priced (rooms from £80 a night). Its collection includes more than 270 properties across the world but with a focus on the UK, France, Spain, Greece and Italy. Prices range from £75 to over £500 a night.
• furtherafield.com

Chateaux and Hotels Collection

L’auberge de la source — L’auberge de la Source, part of the Chateaux and Hotels Collection

This site should be the first port of call for those who have always dreamed of a fairytale stay in a French castle. This collection of independently owned unique and boutique properties caters to all budgets, with prices ranging from €70 to €400 a night. The collection currently covers France, Italy, Mauritius, Germany, Maldives, Belgium, Austria, Spain, and Hungary – with most of the properties in France. For travelling gourmands, the site has also collated a network of top-class restaurants.
• chateauxhotels.co.uk

Boutique and Breakfast

“The definitive guide to the most desirable Bed and Breakfast and self-catering accommodation throughout the UK”, has 129 properties on its website. The majority are stylish B&Bs such as Old Whyly in Lewes, East Sussex, which is a Grade II-listed Georgian manor house complete with pool (from £85 a night). There is also a small selection of self-catering and sleep-and-dine properties. Price bands vary with rates starting from £55 to £325 a night and beyond. The site features properties throughout the UK but there is a concentration of properties in the south-west (Devon and Cornwall), the south-east (Hampshire and Sussex), Wales, the north-east and Scotland.
• boutiqueandbreakfast.com

Paradores and Pousadas

View From a parador in Toledo, central Spain. Photograph: Nik Wheeler/Corbis

The Spanish Paradores scheme was established by the government in 1928 and allows you to book hotels converted from fine historic buildings such as castles, convents, monasteries, fortresses throughout the country. The state maintains the buildings, the upkeep of which you contribute to with your fee for the room, as well as making a contribution to the local tourist economy. Pousadas are the Portuguese equivalent. Founded in 1942 on the Spanish model, though no longer owned by the state, they offer good value accommodation – often in spectacular or historic locations.
• parador.es, pousadas.pt

By Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

@rhiannonlucyc

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

How To Rent A European Villa (And Not Go Broke)

A villa from Abercrombie & Kent, which inspects its properties. Not every company or agency has an established reputation, though. Abercrombie & Kent Villas

Why spend your European vacation in a small, pricey hotel room when you can rent a private villa?

If the words “because I can’t afford it” are about to roll off your tongue, allow me to interject. While “villa” tends to be synonymous with “exorbitant,” infinity pools, panoramic vistas and private paths to the beach aren’t as out of reach as you might think. You just have to know what to look for, and when. To that end, here are five tips for getting your own exclusive country estate — if only for a week.

1. Nab a couples deal Take, for instance, The Thinking Traveller, a villa rental company based in London. The company’s website has special offers on large villas available only to couples, or couples with a pre-school-age child. Just one of the villa’s bedrooms will be made up when you arrive (the bedroom considered to be the best), and while you must sleep in that particular room, you nonetheless get the entire villa and its grounds to yourself. The current couples offer on the Thinking Traveller is for villas in Sicily, Puglia and the Ionian Islands — many with sea views, pools, terraces, gardens — available between now and just before the end of October, starting at about $2,140 a week, or $306 a night (a seven-night minimum stay is required).

On a tighter budget? Some villa rental companies have one- or two-bedroom properties that are perfect for couples. If, for example, you search on the James Villa Holidays website for properties that accommodate two travelers, you’ll turn up modest homes with swimming pools that cost less for a full week than some hotels cost per night — like a two-bedroom property with a pool in Mallorca, Spain, starting about $483 a week; and a three-bedroom home with a pool on Costa Blanca in Spain, also starting about $483 a week, or $69 a night. (Use the ratings and traveler reviews on the site to help evaluate the various options.)

2. Venture farther afield Reputable rental companies make it clear when a property is a bit remote. In addition to tranquillity, such homes generally come with lower prices. A three-bedroom stone farmhouse with a fireplace, pool and a dining loggia, described on Tuscany Now as “off the beaten track” in Umbria (near Cortona), starts at $1,514 a week, or around $216 a night. On James Villa Holidays, a two-bedroom villa with a pool in Arbucies, part of the Costa Brava, was also referred to as “off the beaten track” with “views to the high mountain peaks of the Montseny Natural Park.” Prices during a recent search started about $1,172 a week, or $167 a night. I stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn in Idaho that was more expensive.

3. Vacation off-season Renting a villa in Provence is most expensive during high season in July and August. Prices tend to go down a bit in May, June and September, though the best deals to be had are during the low season, October through April. On the rental site Ville et Village, a three-bedroom villa with a pool and views of the Alpilles mountains near St.-Rémy-de-Provence is $4,485 a week (about $641 a night) in August. Yet in April, that same villa is offered for nearly $2,000 less: $2,588 a week, or about $370 a night. You may not make use of the pool then but, hey, there’s also a fireplace.

4. Go with family and friends The simplest way to make luxury affordable is to split the bill. Take the four-bedroom villa with a pool and bucolic views on the Côte d’Azur starting at $3,414 a week onAbercrombie & Kent’s villa rental site, AKvillas.com. Share the cost with two other couples and suddenly it’s $1,138 a week, or about $163 a night, for each couple. And there’s still one bedroom to spare. Or try the four-bedroom villa on the Amalfi Coast in Italy with views over the Gulf of Naples and the island of Capri, as well as a pool, sauna and hot tub. A recent search found Abercrombie & Kent offering 25 percent off the villa on the remaining days in September, when the weekly rate is normally at its highest; $8,152. The discount took the price down to $6,114. Divide that among four couples and it would be about $1,529 a week, or $218 a night per couple. October stays are even lower; the weekly rate is typically $5,424 but it too was being discounted, by up to 25 percent. (Note that all of the above prices are for the site’s “villa only” option; not the “hosted” villa option.) A “special offers” tab on Akvillas.com makes it easy to find the latest price cuts on a variety of villas.

5. Be flexible Even rental companies with luxurious villas like Abercrombie & Kent and James Villa Holidays offer price breaks from time to time, especially at the tail end of high season. Villas of Distinction, which has properties that go for upward of $16,000 a night, has an “on special” filter on its website where you can find discounts. Some of these “on special” villas will still set you back several thousand dollars a night. But others are in the realm of possibility for certain travelers or a group of friends, like a three-bedroom villa in Croatia with a private indoor pool, sauna and sea views, part of a resort with a private beach, for about $679 a night.

Before you plunk down a deposit, however, a word of caution: As good as certain deals may be, some are too good to be true. Even established rental sites have had scammers.

One way to protect your money is to rent from a place that accepts credit cards rather than a wire transfer, because cards allow you to take action against fraud. There are notable exceptions to this, but it’s a good rule of thumb when, for instance, dealing directly with a property owner you don’t know.

If you’re considering renting from an owner or agency that doesn’t have an established reputation (as opposed to a company like Abercrombie & Kent, which inspects its villas), you’ll need to be especially cautious. Read traveler reviews to help determine if the listing is legitimate. Airbnb users should know, for example, that you can filter only for villas belonging to what the site refers to as “superhosts,” owners whose properties have great reviews (at least 80 percent must be five stars), and a steady flow of guests each year. Superhosts also have to respond quickly to guest questions and honor confirmed reservations.

Travelers who use HomeAway can buy trip cancellation protection and damage protection, as well as a “carefree rental guarantee,” which “guarantees your payment if the vacation rental is not as advertised or you are unable to gain access,” through a link on the site.

Wherever possible, call and speak with the agency or owner about the property and the terms of the rental. If you want housekeeping or groceries, ask in advance. You may be able to afford the villa, but stocking the fridge, even heating the pool, can cost extra. Such are the travails of villa life.

Stephanie Rosenbloom

THE GETAWAY