Owners Direct 

Just booked a villa through owners direct for the first time. So far it has been a great service and I am really looking forward to our holiday

The reviews on Trustpilot for Ownersdirect reflect an unusual situation not found elsewhere with other company reviews on Trustpilot.

There are two distinct sets of customers with diametrically opposed views - on one side are the holidaymakers who are being co-erced into giving 5 star one line reviews and on the other side are the holiday home owners giving one star lengthy reviews who are appalled at the service provided by OD and their duplicitious practices.

As a previous OD holiday home owner I have been monitoring the reviews and would make the following additional comments.

1] At no stage in OD`s replies have they ever addressed or explained the problem of falling occupier demand that has taken place since they took over the old site and tried to revamp it.. I would not have minded increasing my annual subscription for more guaranteed bookings but instead ending up paying more for no bookings at all ! -this would not be a known Harvard Business School model !
2] UK legislation, as announced by the chancellor, is shortly to be implemented making it illegal for tenants to be charged letting fees by letting agents [ letting platforms] - this could impact on OD`s ability to charge the holidaymaker [the tenant] a fee and would potentially make the holiday home owner liable for allowing continuation for such a fee to be charged
3] OD`s website has a careers section at the bottom of the website. over the last 18 months they have been advertising 50/60 vacant posts at anyone time - none of these posts have been for dealing with "improvement in customer relations" [ this should be an indicator of OD`s total contempt for their customer, especially the holiday home owner]
4] a very valid review was posted by a Miss NOBODY on July 11th 2017 -she had worked for OD in their office and then left - her comments made at that time are now very pertinent today and highlight the sharp practices and devious approaches that OD have adopted towards its customer base. Let us hope another whistleblower comes forward.

The CEO, Brian Sharples, both Homeaway and OD made the following statement in Nov 2014 " we are going to be free to travellers.. and we`re going to be letting everybody know , when you come to our platform, you don`t pay a fee, and we think that is a big deal" - clearly OD has had a change of heart.

Finally some of the more cynical homeowners are even suggesting that OD welcomed the odd scam to their website so that it could justify the ridiculous "book with confidence guarantee" masquerading as a letting fee

Great variety of properties at a wide range of prices. Good communication after booking but found it difficult to save and access properties I was interested in. Wouldn’t stop me using them again though.

Ownersdirect/homeaway are a joke. The kind owners that have to deal with the problems of the company will hopefully bring it to its knees and not renew contracts.
I made a booking on 29th March, monies taken by owners direct for a villa. The owner of the villa had to decline the request as the company had substantially underpriced it. The owner assured the refund would be actioned Thursday day.
By Sunday I had still not received confirmation of the refund so emailed the company, to be told they could not mediate between us and i needed to contact the owner again.
After becoming frustrated with the owner I read reviews on trustpilot, many from different owners who use the site that state they do not control the funds and cant issue refunds wen they have been requested. Obviously many feel this is unjust as homeaway control the funds but do not mediate between owner and traveller.
After apologising to the lady for clearly frustrated (not abusive) emails, a refund has now been issued.
The owner of the villa has had to repeatedly request for me to be refunded from homeaway, clearly this is as frustrating for the poor owners as it is the traveller.
I would urge customers to verify prices before any funds are paid. As any discrepancies in price can be difficult to resolve. From what I have read and expereinced the owners are NOT at fault here, and cannot access the funds to refund back.
Most importantly, please do not be fooled by the booking guarantee as wen push comes to shove, this is basically just a guarantee that repeated emails will be met with, OWNERS ARE FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ISSUSING THE REFUND WE ARE JUST A MARKETING PLATFORM. Owners should not be blamed, if the money never reaches there account but is held by the company itself.
I would have continued to blame the owner had i not read the reviews on here!
As the title suggests this is bureaucracy at its finest!!!!!

Reply: and your booking guarantee? Do you not feel this is extrememly misleading? if not an outright lie?

We have stopped our advertising with Owners Direct after being with them since 2008. In the last year the company has changed from being a helpful company, which attracted good bookings in our villa, to a company which is destructive to our business and expensive and misleading for the holiday maker. We have moved our advert to SIMPLY OWNERS. Other owners don't be afraid to get out of Owners Direct. Simply Owners is a great company and we have already made more money in a couple of months with them than we did in almost all the last year with OD. There IS an alternative, SIMPLY OWNERS. Tell your previous clients to look in SIMPLY OWNERS for your property, where you can be in complete control of the whole booking and payments.

Firstly, please be aware of all the recent 5 star reviews submitted. Go back a few pages and you will see the true story. I am not suggesting anything BUT, after literally pages and pages of one star reviews, these seem to have appeared all of a sudden !! Mmmmmm, maybe slightly suspicious.
Unfortunately, OD has changed beyond comprehension.
* They no longer allow you to make contact with people prior to accepting the booking. You either accept or decline. They blank out email addresses and telephone numbers, so you cant make contact, until accepting. I have always spoken to people before accepting, so I know who is going to my apartment.
* They pretty much insist on dealing with the payments, and don't allow you to deal with that.
* They charge a fee to the guests, for no other reason than to make money. This in new.
* When they take the payment, they keep the money in their account for up to a couple of weeks.
* When they do deposit the money in your account, they keep 3% for themselves.
* On two occasions, when I have instructed a refund, the other people have contacted me, asking where the money was. I have phoned, and they 'forgot' to refund, and would do it right away.
* I asked them to deactivate my account and they said it would be done within 24 hours. Four days later it still hadn't been done. I contacted them and was told they had forgotten !!.Two days later it was deactivated.
* Customer service is terrible.
In conclusion, I would urge you to seriously think about joining them, and would ask that you look back a few pages of these reviews to see the genuine ones, as opposed to the recent plants.

Used to be a great company - now absolutely terrible. The whole point of Owners Direct was in the very name, but the current company (Homeaway/Expedia) have taken it far away from there to ensure they get a large slice of flesh and take no interest in or responsibility for the let. I recommend guests google the name/location of any property you find on OD and deal with the owner (um...) direct!
NOTE. Please beware of recent run of suspicious 5 star reviews here for OD. Most are one liners from ‘people’ who have given only one review. Those who’ve done more reviews are often multiple reviews for the same site! See for yourself!
(For additional more authentic and equally damning reviews for OD, look up “owners-direct”. )

Making a reservation with Owners Direct, was easy and trouble free. Highly recommended.

Easy to use and had a very quick, positive, response from the owner.

Very prompt confirmation of my booking from the owner.-Excellent communication .

We stopped advertising our property through Ownersdirect last October, but they still pester for reviews, I'm guessing so they can add them to dodgy review sites like this, where they pay for companies like Trustpilot to turn a blind eye to what is going on.
Their latest trawl idea is to ask me to review my 'stay' in my own property and to also review a guest. Both these requests for dates when we haven't even had bookings.
What the hell are Ownersdirect up to? We are no longer registered on their god awful site so what gives them the right to ask us for any reviews?
Just as a comparison: we signed up with Simplyowners and can only report no problems and a good inexperience in all our dealings with them.
No doubt another six glowing 5 star reviews will follow this one to remove it off the front page, shame on you Trustpilot.

An excellent site to look for holiday property to rent. There is a great choice of different types of property ( villas, apartments, houses ) and the filters allow you to hopefully find something that is suitable for your needs. The only criticism I have is that I could not find a filter that allowed me to search in a specific region which would possibly make the whole process simpler if you wanted accommodation in a certain area.

Tony Robinson

Easy to book and clear directions and information

DO NOT USE THEM PLEASE. Worst platform to use for booking accommodation. Most displayed 'available', yet when booked and paid for, they advise you otherwise. The information on the website is either incorrect or misleading. I booked a self catering villa in Sorrento which was displayed as for 6 people. After booking and paying was informed it is only for only 2 people and extra cost would be added for 2 more. Very strange. Payment was taken from my card, although 2 weeks later I did get a refund but lost in exchange rate and charges. I gave an opportunity to correct their mistake but, guess what, didn’t work. I will be looking to take them to SMALL CLAIMS COURT. I have now booked it through Airbnb, without any problem.... ABSOLUTELY RUBBISH PLATFORM. I WOULD NEVER USE THEM AGAIN.

Great service and good selection of properties we are very happy x

Easy to use website, good to be able to speak with the owner.

Do not use. This is an international organisation that has appalling customer service and just wants your money. Book through a direct website that cares about providing a great service. Beware Owners Direct will charge you when you enquire, not when you book.

Easy to navigate around the site. Clear and concise instructions on how to book. Great choice of places to rent either short or long term. App easy to download so you can have all your info close at hand.

First time user of the website but found it easy to use, lots of properties to choose from, plenty of photos of the rooms/garden/layout/etc so very informative. Booking was simple, we got a quick response, which meant we could make the rest of our plans to fit in with our booking. Would be happy to recommend and use again based on our first impressions.