Find your Ideal Holiday: Villas and Cottages

Looking for the right holiday accommodation for you and/or your family?  We will discuss ideal holiday villas, good reasons to choose a villa and some of the drawbacks. When choosing a villa what are some of the important but less obvious considerations.

Choosing the right accommodation is the first key to a great holiday.    This is not as straightforward as you might think and is worth putting in some thought.  At the moment choosing a villa appears to be a very popular choice, there are some pros and cons that you should consider before going this route. 

Fundamentally a villa is self catering accommodation.  Yes, self evident you might think.  Why do you want self catering accommodation?

• Choice: I can cook what I want, when I want and still eat out too.  Useful for say breakfast, especially perhaps with a large or young family (it gives you extra flexibility).
• The kids can have separate rooms from the adults.
• There are more living areas - the adults can spend evenings here - while keeping an ear open for the children.  Often there will be TVs and DVD machines to help keep the kids amused.
• Private pool? You can have a pool but without lots of other families  (hell is other people or hell is other peoples kids - quite likely).
• More flexibility and cost effective for large groups.
• Villa can be more picturesque: you can choose locations that are less heavily populated or touristy.
• Personal privacy.

Some good reasons to choose a villa.  Now here are some reason to think again.

• Self-catering also means all the effort that goes with it: buying the food, preparing the food, cooking the food and cleaning up afterwards.  The Last time we did this one of the things we really noticed was the number of times we had to go shopping, we were always running out of something or needing stores for the next meal.
• There are no  chambermaids so you have to tidy up after yourselves. 
• Private pool: will it be up to scratch; how big is it ? What about keeping an eye on the children - there are no lifeguards.  A surprising number of people drown every year in private swimming pools. 
• The kitchen is unlikely to be as well equipped as your kitchen at home.

With this in mind we have put together some points to think about if you are choosing a villa.

• If one of the main reasons to go on holidays is to get away from the daily chores in life -then a hotel does this more effectively.
• Location - if you are going to be self catering check the location of nearby shops
• Check information on nearby resorts and beaches. this will give you a feel for the area.     The last villa we stayed in was excellent but good local restaurants were thin on the ground as it was next to the German version of Magaluf.
• Pool - try and check on size and quality.  This gives rise to more complaints about villas than any other factor.
• Be aware if you make a private booking through the internet: you will probably have pay by cash.  Therefore you will have very little recourse in the event of complaints.
• If you are planning to eat out a lot it could be more cost effective to go half or full board at a  hotel  even with 2 or 3 rooms. 
• Inspections of all villas and cottages   is only as reliable as the local laws and the strength of any inspections provided by the company you book through.  There could be unforeseen hazards and dangers in the property you book (ranging from faulty boilers, dangerous electrics to cracked and broken paving).

• For further discussion about the ideal holiday accommodation for you visit Findholidays4u.com
• If we havent put you off booking a villa, then to ensure that you have maximum comeback and the best chance of getting the quality of villa or cottage you require then book through operators with a reputation to lose!
• In my next article I will discuss the pros and cons of staying in hotels and some of the main considerations when searching for your ideal holiday hotel.