Villaparade / Travelopo

[kate1]

I would certainly be very wary of booking through Villa Parade at the moment. But at least they are still ABTA members, unlike Travelopo.

[Lorenzo]

This is a terrible development, especially for anyone whose holiday plans are about to be dashed.

[Tiggy]

Daily Mail online has already a piece on Villa Parade titled Terminally ill woman evicted from Mallorca holiday villa after travel company fails to tell her it cancelled her booking

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by Mark

The advert on this site still says that Travelopo have an ABTA number which is now an untruthful claim.
Rent Villas, Apartments from Agents in Puerto Pollensa, Mallorca Majorca

Yes Mark, Pollensa is on holiday at the moment but she will remove it when she can.

[roig cat]

Yes Tiggy and Travelopo have splashed this across their Facebook page! That company are so unprofessional, wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. I cant believe the villa owners signed up to them!

[Lovell]

Hi everyone

Unfortunately we are the ones who have been told a cheque is in the post as our villa is no longer available for this weekend.

After plenty of emails and calls all day yesterday they still have not come back to us.

We managed to get a room at Cal Lloro in old town but if Luke to thank the forum for also trying to help yesterday.

Can safely say that our family will never be booking through villa parade again.

[Mark]

Cal Lloro is a perfect location and it's great to stay in the heart of the old town and watch how it changes throughout the day.

Have a great holiday

[kate1]

Originally Posted by roig cat

Yes Tiggy and Travelopo have splashed this across their Facebook page! That company are so unprofessional, wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. I cant believe the villa owners signed up to them!

It may well be that the villa owners haven't signed up with them. The situation in Mallorca is quite strange in that if a company such as Villa Parade is UK-based, the contract has to be negotiated through a locally-based third party. For example, we only signed our contract for 2014 (drawn up by the third party) in April, despite the fact that the whole 2014 season was already booked out (and I assume deposits had been taken). I don't know whether it's enshrined in law that things have to be done this way but it's certainly common practice. It's quite possible that villa owners have not been party to any negotiations going on - apart from initially telling their local agent that they weren't happy with Villa Parade (or possibly not even that!). Owners have to rely on the local agents being upfront and honest about what is going on - you have to trust that they are working in your best interests. You can see that this system is open to abuse.... Another added complication is that most of the local agents are in effect closed from the end of the season (November) until the beginning of March, when they start getting ready for the new season.... so there is literally no one for owners to contact during this time.

Lovell, Cal Lloro is lovely - my husband stayed there last year and has been singing its praises ever since! In many ways the old town is the nicest place to stay - so beautiful and atmospheric, especially in the evenings.

[roig cat]

Thanks for the explanation Kate, there will be some very disgruntled owners out there. Some properties have been on VP's books for years and were very popular.

We've booked with Villa Plus for July. Never used them before but most reviews are good.

[pollensacare]

all very concerning, not good publicity for Port Pollensa, hope all is resolved soon

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by pollensacare

all very concerning, not good publicity for Port Pollensa, hope all is resolved soon

Agree totally .

[Malc84]

Hi Guys I work in the Travel Industry so would advise firstly as those above have done so to contact ABTA immediately.
If you have paid on a Credit Card you should have financial protection against losses as standard in line with the Financial Conduct Authorities regulations as the transaction is over £100.00. Contact your card issuer and explain the situation and they should look to investigate this for you so even if the company you booked with are not ABTA Bonded you should hopefully still get your money back. ATOL only comes into play if you booked flights through either company.
You can also check companies house web site to see if the companies in question are solvent and where their businesses are registered within the UK, if no mention on companies house they are not based in the UK at all.
ABTA and ATOL is the minimum industry standard requirement within the Travel Industry, it costs a company around £50,000.00 to £100,000.00 per year to be a member but it ring fences your money until after you have traveled and that is where the protection comes into play.

My advice before booking a Villa through a company is to check companies House to make sure they have got a good history and don't go bust every couple of years. You then can check ABTA and ATOL protection through their web site too and once you've done the homework pay on a Credit Card.

If you are booking direct with an Owner, ABTA doesn't come into it so make sure you check reviews from a number of sources and again always pay the Deposit and final balance on a Credit Card.
Use social network sites, set up a page and if people have stayed at a particular Villa/Apartment they will comment and join the page this gives you further reassurance the property and owners exist.

I really hope this is useful and those of you caught up in this mess have a positive outcome

[Malc84]

Originally Posted by roig cat

Thanks for the explanation Kate, there will be some very disgruntled owners out there. Some properties have been on VP's books for years and were very popular.

We've booked with Villa Plus for July. Never used them before but most reviews are good.

We used them last year and they were great. It was our first experience of PP and we are back again this September with them and again next June.

[sws97sdg]

Just goggled and found this story on this on the Huddersfield Daily examiner, it sound like it is just a scam!!
Read the full story there, this is a quote from it

"Travel watchdogs are investigating a bizarre mix-up over a Huddersfield holiday company.

Dozens of customers of Villa Parade have received emails from another travel company, telling them their holidays will not be honoured.

In some cases, the holidaymakers have paid out thousands of pounds for villas in the Spanish sun.

But Villa Parade have hit back insisting there are no problems and claiming that their database details have been illegally used.

Now officials of the travel association ABTA and lawyers are conducting an inquiry into the allegations.

Villa Parade, who have been based in Huddersfield for the past 15 years, are members of ABTA but the other company, Travelopo, have been excluded from the organisation."

[Sparky]

I just hope that it gets sorted out sooner rather than later .