James Villa Holidays

Negative experience: We booked a villa in Lanzarote for a week. Prior to arriving to the villa we went to a supermarket to buy some food. When we arrived, we noticed there was a hire car parked on the driveway and the code we were given for the key box was wrong. We managed to work out what the code was but there was no key inside. As it was Sunday afternoon, we called the customer service line and got through to the India team. We explained the situation and they said they will call us back. After a while they called back and said the local Spanish team will contact us. Again after a while the Spanish team contacted us but they were unable to explain what was going on and why we couldn't get in the villa. Then they said they will contact the maintenance guy- we thought he would be able to let us in but when he finally called us he said the previous guests extended their stay for an extra night. He said he spoke to James Villa multiple times to remind them that we were booked in that villa and they will have to sort something out for us. So they knew the whole time! We got this information after sitting on the driveway for over 2 hours. It was getting dark and late and the food we bought was going bad. We then proceeded to call the India team again to find out why they didn't tell us straight away that the villa was double booked and why they didn't contact us in advance. They said we should book a hotel room for that night. There was no apology or attempt to fix the issue on their end. Awful customer service. They should have been the ones sorting out the temporary accommodation for us instead of leaving us to do it all ourselves. We tried to go to the nearest hotel but as it was last minute they were fully booked and turned us away. We then received a phone call from the Spanish team who wanted to know if the maintenance guy contacted us. We explained what he told us about the double booking. As you can imagine we were extremely unhappy and stressed out at this point. The Spanish team found out that the villa directly next door to the one we booked was empty and we could stay in there for the night. We were relieved that we had somewhere to stay however we lost at least €40 worth of food and spent 2 hours on the street stressed out. And to top it all off the door to the villa next door was unlocked the whole time, the door lock was broken so the door wouldn't lock. We spent the whole night worrying that someone could easily break in. We were able to move into the villa we originally booked the following afternoon but the only "apology" we got from James Villa was "Sorry for the confusion." This was pure neglect from them and not a confusion! The cherry on top was when a pool cleaning man appeared out of nowhere and poked his head over the fence to find out if he can come in and clean the pool. The reason we picked this villa was because it was very private. I was sunbathing topless and as I didn't expect a stranger to show up, it really frightened me and I felt uneasy for the rest of the stay. We will not be using James Villa again and definitely do not recommend unless you want your holiday ruined.

Negative experience: Upon arrival the provided key code was incorrect. Once we had figured it out there was no key in the box. Rang customer services who passed us to the "local team" (3rd party management company), the "local team" gave us the phone number of the caretaker who told us that the current occupants had extended their stay by a day, and he had told them multiple times and had been informed it was solved and we had been relocated (we hadn't obviously). I then had to go back to James villas customer support, who told us to book a hotel and they will reimburse us. We went to a nearby hotel and were sent away, when the "local team" rang and told us that the villa next door had been empty the entire time and asked us to go there. All in all it was 2.5h of sitting/walking in 30° heat after spending the entire day travelling by the time we got in. Then the following day we elected to move back to the originally booked villa as it was much more private and that's why we booked. During the course of our time there the pool cleaner visited twice, both times just walking around without knocking on the door which really took away from any privacy we felt we had, putting a real downer on combined with the issues we had during our entry. The villa itself was lovely, well appointed and very private and comfortable as expected, but James villas management and customer service leaves a lot to be desired, and we certainly won't be coming back to them.

Negative experience: By far the worst agent. You should avoid at all costs as they are completely unprofessional! We had booked a villa since March since as we had a friend with a big family flying from the US and had informed them they had 5 kids since day 1. However, they went ahead and cancelled the August reservation 7 days before travel date with the excuse of having one 5 year old over capacity. When we told them we had informed them of that back in March they said sorry I can’t find the note… to add to all this my husband spoke with them 3 times to make sure all was good all of them told us it was sorted only to receive a cancellation message from Airbnb 10 minutes later. They didn’t even have the curtesy of letting us know themselves. From a research we did, this is a known scam they do to get higher rate in hot destinations like Greece during high season. Their rating across many different customers explains everything.

Negative experience: Avoid at all costs! Completely unprofessional! Booked a villa in Greece from March since I had a friend with a big family flying from the US I had informed them they had 5 kids since day one since I wanted no problems but they went ahead and cancelled my August reservation in Greece 7 days before travel date with the excuse of having one 5 year old over capacity. When I told them I had informed them of that back in March they said sorry I can’t find the note… to add to all this I spoke with the 3 times that week in August to make sure all was good all of them told me it was sorted only to receive a cancellation message from Airbnb 10 minutes later, they didn’t even have the curtesy of letting me know themselves. From what I learned this is a known scam they do to get higher rate in hot destinations like Greece during high season. Their rating across many different customers explains everything.

Negative experience: Cockroach infested Villa I have notified James villa But they mostly ignored my messages my wife has been buying cleaning stuff to clean the floors

Negative experience: By far the worst travel agent I ever had to deal with. They completely IGNORED us for DAYS.

Negative experience: A very bad experience, haven't feel scammed so badly like this in a long time. Asking for a reaction on our complaints (see below) has resulted in exactly zero response after 4 weeks. Strongly recommend not to book through this organisation. Dear James Villa Team, I am writing to inform you of a very poor experience we've had with an accommodation we booked through James Villa and to request a partial refund on our payment. We booked an accommodation through James Villa in June. The booking was for 28 days staring with the 17th of July. The cost of the accommodation was ca. GBP 10k. The property was so completely out of line with our expectations that having paid for nearly a month, we have spent a total of five nights there. The word "villa" is quite overstated here. This is a modest house. It is meant to accommodate six people but in reality it provides sleeping room for six. The living / dining area is certainly not large enough for a group of six. The kitchen is very poorly equipped and not properly cleaned. Our oven was covered in grease. The wifi connection was extremely poor. The entire time we were there, we managed to connect twice and even then, it would take 2-3 minutes to load a page. This was highly inconvenient given the fact that both my wife and I were working during our stay at the house. The house itself had no laundry facilities. Guests are expected to use a common laundry area. I suppose we could have deduced that from the description on your site but having paid more than GBP 350 per night, we would have expected a better arrangement. We decided to look for a different accommodation, which as you can imagine was not easy to do on short notice in high season. While we were looking, we spent nights away in hotels, basically paying for two accommodations at the same time. We were finally able to find an alternative and left the house yesterday. The management on site was very friendly and receptive to our comments but there is little they can do. Ultimately, you need to reconsider the price point for this place. As I said, this is a very basic accommodation for which you are charging 4-5 star prices, raising a certain level of expectations with your potential guests which you are ultimately not able to meet. Given that we returned the property after only 10 days of stay, I don't think it is appropriate for us to have to pay for more than two weeks in total. Please let me know how you'd like to proceed. Regards,

Negative experience: James Villa cancelled my booking in the evening, one day before departure. They gave me an hour to decide whether I would like to book another villa they have chosen or cancel the booking. This was all done by phone, not by e-mail. Since the alternative villa was not nice, I had to look for a new accommodation for the next day one evening before departure. After the holiday I contacted James Villa and asked when the refund would be paid to me. I was informed that my booking from James Villa was cancelled only ONE week later at Air B'n'B and that the money from that date will not be in my account until 14 business days later. This has now been more than a month ago and the refund has still not been transferred to me. Just don't book with James Villa!!!!

Fantastic experience: Had a great experience on our last trip to corfu staying in villa angela, absolutely stunning and effortless booking, directions to villa to finding the key was all perfect

Fantastic experience: I'd just like to thank James Villas for the way they've handled the cancellation of our holiday. They explained the deails around having to pay the deposit and gave me a written guarantee explaining cancellations etc. 1 month before our holiday I received an email with a choice of credit + 10% or our money back. I opted for the money back option and these were credited back within 15 working days, exactly as had been promised. We will definately be using you for our next Villa holiday and you're a great example to other travel companies of how to deal with challening times. Thank you.

Negative experience: Do not trust these sharks of the travel industry. I booked our family holiday to Croatia last September. I paid £2,450.00 deposit. I understand that because of this awful virus things change. But this week I received an email stating that if I do not pay the balance we would lose our deposit. I spoke to my wife and we decided to pay the balance of £7,489.00 as James villas said there were no restrictions and our holiday could go ahead. I paid the balance on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday morning James Villas phoned me and cancelled our holiday. I was told I would be refunded instantly but this has never happened and now I cannot get an answer on the phone or email. I am shocked that James Villas would treat there customers this way. We are currently almost 10k out of pocket. I would never ever book another holiday with this company. I would advise anyone who reads this to think twice about booking.

Fantastic experience: Great selection of villas, responsive customer services. Would recommend

Fantastic experience: First time we have booked with James Villa Holidays and I can safely say I will be booking with you again! Fantastic service, easy to use online portal, superb villa, vehicle hire, every step of your holiday is covered right to the last detail. An amazing holiday with a outstanding company.

Positive experience: Good company. Nice villas. More expensive than some others, but good quality.

Fantastic experience: great selection of holiday villa's

Negative experience: We stayed in Villa Eleni, Zakynthos, booked through James Villas for a week in August. Finding the villa was very difficult, with no clear signage from the main road. The Villas are located halfway down an incredibly steep, unlit, single-track dirt road, driving past derelict houses, dumped rubbish and abandoned scrap metal. The access from the car park area to the villa was also down a steep slope, not suitable for those with mobility issues. We were met on arrival by the female owner, who was helpful in providing information on the local area. She advised us to ensure that the villa alarm was set when we left the villa and when we went to bed. We were also shown the ‘panic alarm’ on the key fob and advised to lock doors and windows when we were sat by the pool. This made us feel quite uneasy and uncomfortable about our security at the villa, particularly given its difficult access. Furthermore, it is not an issue that we have ever previously experienced on any other villa holiday. The villa was clean, but very basic, poorly equipped and was ‘tired’ in places. It also appeared that work on the villa was incomplete with exposed pipes and cabling in all rooms and bare electrical wiring in the pool area. The barbecue was filthy, with the previous guests’ food and coals still on it, and the grills were in such a poor state of repair that we would not have been able to use them. On contacting the villa manager ‘Jane’, she arranged for the owner to replace the grills, and this was done the following day by the male owner, albeit grudgingly as they didn’t perceive this to be an issue. The pool was not serviced during the week as it should have been. The water level was 4 inches below the “water mark” and, as a result, the pump made very loud “sucking” noises when it was on, including during the night which was very audible from the main bedroom. The villa is advertised as having WIFI, although this did not work for the entire time that we were there. We were advised by Jane that due to the “thick walls”, WIFI was only available if you sat outside the villa, not at all acceptable or indeed, practical. The advertised satellite TV was problematic, with the few English-speaking channels, pixelated. What the brochure does not mention is the adjacent smallholding where both humans and animals start very early in the morning and continue into the following early hours of the morning. We spoke to ‘Becky’ at James Villas customer service whilst we were in the resort to address these issues, but her response was the typical ‘scripted’ call-centre reply; hiding behind their standard T&Cs as opposed to actually being empathetic and trying to resolve the issues. It was implied by Becky that we shouldn’t expect for things to work “like they do at home”, and if we had issues with mobility, we should have “checked before booking”. James Villas are more than happy to take thousands of pounds for villas that they advertise with all the amenities customers look for when choosing a villa, however, the reality borders on misrepresentation and their in-resort reps clearly do not inspect the villas during the season. This was our 3rd (and last) James Villa and by far the worst; it is very telling that James Villas no longer have customer reviews on their website and rely on clearly censored Reevoo reviews instead.

Negative experience: Accommodation cleanliness was sub-standard and the place was grubby; JV rep was non-existent; Owner thought it was acceptable to bring his dog in to change the bedding; satellite TV didn't work; jacuzzi bath didn't work... and to top it all off, James Villas idea of customer service is to send an email that pretty much just said: "Thanks for letting us know." James Villas idea of service is awful! AVOID! Just check the amount of poor reviews they have on Trustpilot!!!

Negative experience: No aircon in one of bedrooms even though was in accommodation details that all bedrooms had a/c. Got a small refund for that. However, my daughter who had to sleep with her sibling in the same room was injured by a large needle poking up on her bed mattress that drew blood. James Villas seemed rather disinterested and did not seem to see the health & safety implications - it might have injured someone's eye?! Not really impressed with the customer service of James Villas.

Fantastic experience: Best place I've been to for a while

Fantastic experience: Excellent customer service

Fantastic experience: Had many fabulous villas with James I think their great & we book each year with them.

Fantastic experience: James is cool

Fantastic experience: I first used James Villas for our Tuscany holiday nearly 13 years ago now and I've been happy to recommend to our clients ever since. What I like is that they allow me to book villa holidays for my customers at thier web rates and if I have cheaper car rentals available elsewhere James Villas are happy to leave me to arrange that. To date I have had no complaints using this company so unless anything changes I'll keep selling them! Sean McHale Bespoke Travel