John Y.
Outrageous charges!!!
First, they charge $75 for each booking whether they did or owner's for damage waiver. It is not saved in a escow or fund for repair. It goes into their pocket. It really raises the cost of each booking, and explains why they provide little booking for the owners. Second, they charge 4% for owner booking. They do nothing, but collect 4%, in addition to flat charge of $35 for each owner booking. Third, if you bring your own booking when switching to them, they charge the above charges to the bookings you already have. Fourth, weblock setup fee is expensive, and each year you have to pay for it. Overall, owners work hard to get booking, VillaDirect does very little for you except extract tons of cash from you. It is the worst property management company by FAR! Watch out!
Response from VillaDirect Vacation HomesJan 25, 2019
We are really sorry that you appear to be so upset that you would write this review. Please allow us to respond. We are particularly concerned that you joined VillaDirect, when each of the items that you complain of are clearly detailed in the contract that you must sign to join the Company's program. In answer to your points: First, VillaDirect does NOT charge the ADW fee to owners for VillaDirect bookings. Guests pay the ADW fee. The company charges $65 ADW for Owner bookings. The damage waiver is in place of a security deposit. In 2009, the company paid owners over $73,000 in refunds for damages caused by guests. Second, for the 4% that you complain VillaDirect charges for owners bookings, the Company built a $1M Welcome Center that is staffed by a guest services team of 5 personnel - 7 days per week, for 12 hours per day - so that guests can visit on arrival or during their stay. The company provides a color, 8-page, personalized Arrival Guide for every guest and personally greets every guest arriving. The company also provides 24 hour telephone cover with 3 on-call personnel for owners guests to call if they have a problem. The average that this 4% represents as a charge to owners per booking for this investment by the company and the level of service that it provides is $23. We are sorry that you feel that this is not value-for-money. Third - VillaDirect does not charge anything to owners who transfer to us for the first 4 bookings that they transfer. On any other bookings transferred, we charge the ADW and the sales tax due to the Florida sales tax authority. The contract very clearly states to new owners who join that the company prefers to generate bookings for owners. The company generates over 85% of the reservations that it wins (10,000 bookings shared between 420 homes in 2009). Fourth - Weblock. We are sorry, but we have no such service. If you are referring to the SecurePASS lock system, there is a $250 initial deposit fee that is paid by owners (on joining) to protect our investment in the lock. That deposit is paid back to the owner on termination of the contract - providing the owner allows us to decommission the lock (which costs the company $389). Overall, it looks like you are very frustrated with the service provided by VillaDirect in one of the worst years (economically) for all owners of vacation homes in Orlando. We are sorry for that frustration and wish that we could have helped you to benefit from your business partnership with our company. We are also very concerned that we have no record of you or any Owner client with the name of "John Yates". If "John" would like to contact our CEO, Steve Hardman, he would be delighted to discuss the misunderstandings with this owner.