These are holiday rental companies based in the UK, offering rental properties from city apartments and small cottages to chateaux and luxury villas. (The majority fall, as this list does, under the 'self-catering' label, but at the 'top end' catering options abound!)
Holiday rental companies are really hard to classify, not least because the internet has muddied the waters. Here's our take on it:
If the company organises your travel and has a local rep, it's a Travel Agent or Tour Operator. If they take your money for the rental but leave the travel arrangements to you, they are an Accommodation Agent. If all your dealings are directly with the owner of the property, they are simply a Directory or Noticeboard (online or in the newsagent's window).
Obviously, your money is safer with a bonded tour operator or travel agent, than through an accommodation agent or noticeboard.
See also Large Property Rental, Serviced Apartments, House-Swap, and UK Holiday Rentals
|
|---|
| Abercrombie & Kent |
0845 0700610 |
A&K have a villas division. It is still sometimes refered to as 'A&K Chapters' because in Oct 02 they bought the luxury villa specialist brand 'International Chapters' and with it an amazing portfolio of around 2,000 stunning luxury properties in exotic locations all over the world - many of them with maid service, nearly all with pools, and most with a serious price tag. |
| Alternative Aquitaine |
020 8977 7079 |
Villas, gîtes and cottages in Aquitaine, SW France. |
| Affinity Villas |
01428 727277 |
Specialists in villas in the Algarve (Portugal). |
| Belvilla |
020 8099 0751 |
Formerly known as Euro Relais, a Dutch company founded in 1981, now they have an office in the UK and have re-branded themselves. They've built up a portfolio of more than 12,000 properties available in 16 countries across Europe, but mostly in in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. |
| Bonne Vacances |
01306 876 876 |
Around 500 privately-owned holiday properties, mostly with pools. You book direct with the English-speaking owners. BV also offer the travel services needed to complete the package such as ferry booking, stoppover hotels and travel insurance. They also feature a selection of traditional Bed & Breakfast hotels (chambres d'hôtes).The website looks ok in IE...looks rubbish in Chrome though! |
| Bowhills |
01489 872727 |
Longstanding independent specialist in French farmhouses and villas, set up by Carol Bowhill over 30 years ago (June 04) and now aquired by the Hoseasons group. |
| Brittany Ferries Holidays |
08705 360 360 |
Brittany Ferries' The French Collection 2004 brochure features 400+ pages of villas, gîtes, chateaux, chalets, cottages & apartments, (as well as other holiday options such as hotels & campsites). Owners in France (see below) is also one of their brands. |
| Casas Cantabricas |
01223 328721 |
Self-catering holidays mostly in 'Green Spain' - Cantabria, Asturias, Picos de Europa, Galicia, and around Salamanca - and in Northern Portugal. |
| Chez Nous |
0870 444 6600 |
A portfolio of over 3000 privately-owned gites, villas, apartments, farmhouses, and other rental properties throughout France (their brochure is a fat one - over 500 pages!). Unlike a traditional operator/agency, you book your holiday home directly with the owners. But Chez Nous also offers other holiday components you might need such as ferry bookings, motorail, travel insurance, etc. |
| Coastline |
0208 877 1256 |
Specialist villa company launched in Aug 06 (by the founders of ski specialists, VIP Chalets and Snowline), offering a range of villas with private pools in Ibiza, Majorca and Corsica. |
| Cosmos Villas |
0870 44 28 601 |
Cosmos have a dedicated 'villas with pools' brochure featuring villas in the Algarve, Mainland Spain, Cyprus, Balearics, Canaries, Crete & Gozo. |
| Cottages to Castles |
01622 775236 |
Villas, farmhouses and yes, castles, all over Italy and the Istrian coast of Croatia. Also a range of villas, beach houses, apartments and game lodges in South Africa. |
| Crete Escapes |
01332 880413 |
Small company specialising in villa rentals for North West Crete (Chania area). All villas are well equipped and the majority have a private pool. Their portfolio has grown organically from one villa (their own) in 2002 when they launched, to around 40 now (2008). |
| Daltons Holidays |
020 8329 0195 |
A spin-off from the famous 'Daltons Weekly' advertising publication. Obvious move for them when you think about it! An online holiday property agency with a diverse range of properties all over Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. |
| Dominique's Villas |
020 7738 8772 |
 Small specialist company handling around 140 individually selected chateaux & villas with pools throughout France, for over 16 years. |
| Durmast Travel |
01425 403527 |
Villas and apartments in Southern Cyprus for over 20 years. |
| Easy Cottages |
01756 799999 |
Nothing to do with Stelios, this one. It's the online manifestation of Welcome Holidays, with a portfolio of over 3,000 holiday rental cottages mainly in the UK but also in Ireland and France. |
| Elysian Holidays |
01580 766599 |
Started offering rental properties on the Greek island of Chios and has expanded to offer properties "for independently minded" holiday-makers in Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, Majorca and the Caribbean |
| Essential Italy |
01223 460100 |
A small villa agency run by a brother & sister team offering hand-picked villas, apartments and hotels in Italy, with an emphasis on customer service before, during and after a holiday. |
| Estepona Villas |
01744 884404 |
Villa agency with a selection of villas in and around Estepona, Spain. |
| Euro-Rental |
n/a |
Holiday rental portfolio covering Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Holland, Slovakia, Ireland and the UK. |
| Fleewinter |
020 7112 0019 |
Launched in 2003 specialising in villas and apartments (and boutique hotels) in South Africa. Has now (July 08) expanded to offer the same in Barbados, St Lucia, Tobago, Thailand, Bali, Sri Lanka, and Morocco. |
| Freelance Holidays |
01789 297705 |
A small number of villas & apartments in Greece, Spain, Italy and South Africa |
| Hammond Villas |
0845 177 23 23 |
A small specialist villa company, offering a good selection of villas with pools in France and Italy. All villas (some are lovely - Ed) and their owners are known personally to the company. |
| Holiday Cottages Group |
08700 789 789 |
A giant range of holiday homes in the UK, France, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. Their main online persona is Cottages4youg(19415)a(1687362))  , but their other brands include French Life, Chez Nous, Welcome Cottages, Individual Travellers, and Blakes....plus a whole 'dogs breakfast' of sub-brands! |
| Holiday France Direct |
0870 9013 400 |
Book privately owned villas, farm house, chateaux, hotels, houseboats, studios, apartments, and mobile homes, direct with their owners. Properties located throughout France and a handful in Spain. HFD changed its name from 'Owners in France' in 2007. Part of Brittany Ferries Holidays. Changed |
| Holiday lettings.co.uk |
n/a |
Online database of 10,000 holiday homes in Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus, Portugal, Florida and 70 other countries worldwide to book from owners direct. |
| HolidayLets.net |
01234 757281 |
Online source for villas throughout Europe and in Florida. |
| Home in Italy |
020 7404 4911 |
A selection of exlusive elegant private villas, cottages, farmhouses, apartments and other properties in regions all over Italy. |
Hoseasons Villasg(1086166)a(1687362)) |
0844 847 1234 |
Villas with pools in Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Malta, Turkey and Cyprus. |
| IgluVillas.com |
020 8544 6401 |
Spin-off from the Iglu ski website. Villas in Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, Portugal & Spain |
| Ilios Travel |
0845 675 2601 |
Luxury villas and farmhouses, mostly with private pools in rural locations, in Italy, Spain, Turkey, Portugal and Madeira. |
| Independent Villas |
01473 273327 |
Tailor-made holidays, including golf holidays, in privately owned villas and apartments at the western end of the Algarve. |
| Individual Travellers |
|
Coastal and countryside properties throughout France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and New England. Big range of properties. Parent company for the Individual France (formerly Vacances en Campagne), Individual Italy (formerly Vacanze in Italia), Individual New England (formerly New England Country Homes) and Individual Spain & Portugal brands. |
| Interhome |
020 8891 1294 |
Part of the Inghams/Hotelplan International Group, they've been renting private properties in Europe for 41 years. They now have over 20,000 holiday homes for rent (including 5,000 ski chalets) in 16 European countries and Florida, with 57 local offices looking after the 500,000 guests they handle each year. For years they have been printing great big, phone-directory-style brochures, but now everything is made a little easier with the advent of online booking through their website. They've also introduced a create-your-own brochure system which enables consumers to build their own brochure by selecting properties based on a series of criteria such as destination, location, size and type of property, facilities (such as pool, pets allowed), properties available for an actual date and duration of stay and then compile them into a pdf document which can be printed out or emailed to friends. |
| James Villa Holidays |
01622 655900 |
Villa specialist with numerous properties in Tenerife, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Corfu, Malta, Italy and Florida. |
| Just Imagine |
0114 247 3400 |
U.S. holiday homes rental agency with a UK office. They have properties mostly in Europe (Italy, France, Greece, Croatia, Portugal) but also Canada. |
| Kestral Travel |
01672 520651 |
Villa rental agency with 200 luxury villas in the south of France and 30 chalets in the French Alps. |
| Lazydays |
01202 771170 |
Privately owned villas, cottages and apartments for short-term holiday rental in Goa, India. |
| Little Domain, The |
01326 240028 |
Sister site to the Big Domain (see above) but specialising in rental cottages and hideaways for two, in the UK and abroad. |
| Mallorca Farmhouse Holidays |
0118 947 3001 |
Small family-managed company offering luxurious, 4 and 5 star private villas and farmhouses on Mallorca originally, and now in the Caribbean too. The name has been simplified to 'Mallorca Farmhouses', to match with the new brand name, 'Caribbean Villas' for their portfolio on Barbados & St. Lucia. |
| Mediterraneo Case |
020 8133 1261 |
Cottages, farmhouses, apartments, and villas in South of Italy. |
| Meon Villas |
01730 268411 |
A portfolio of around 500 private villas with pools in the Algarve, Corfu, Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Crete, Cyprus, Dordogne, Florida, Gozo, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, La Manga Club, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Majorca, Malta, Menorca, South of France, St Lucia and Tuscany. Scuba diving options in Gozo & Crete were added in the 2003 programme, and new villas in the Languedoc region of France. For 2004, Meon added Corsica and Kefalonia to their list of destinations. Meon had been an independent operator since 1964, but in 1999 became a part of the First Choice group who also own Sovereign Villas. Many of Meon's upmarket villas have now been incorporated into Sovereign's portfolio of properties. The strategy is that Meon will will become 'direct-sell', while Sovereign Villas will be sold through travel agencies. |
| Mirador Villa Holidays |
01233 611200 |
Mirador Villa Holidays has a hand-selected portfolio of private villas, apartments and small hotels in Greece, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Bali and the Caribbean - particularly USVI & BVI (including one that stands out, on Anegada, but then anything would stand out on Anegada! Ed). |
| MyVillaRenters.com |
01664 474 166 |
Online villa agency with over 6,000 properties in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Florida & other countries, but especially Mallorca & Tuscany. The Rutland-based company has (April 05) has been voted the internet’s Best Travel Website in a survey by Web User Magazine largely for its user-friendly instant booking system. |
| One Off Places |
01494 881196 |
A new (Sep 09) rental property website specialising in 500+ properties with something unique about them - their design, their history, their location, their decoration, whatever... |
| Owners Syndicate |
020 7801 9801 |
OS have branched out from their original business (privately-owned, up-market holiday rental homes in the Caribbean) to offering houses, villas, and hotel resorts in France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and Mauritius. |
| Palmer & Parker |
01494 815411 |
Villa specialists in France, Marbella, Majorca, the Algarve and the Caribbean (Barbados, St. Lucia, Jamaica). |
| Patrica Wildblood Holidays |
01249 817023 |
Self-catering villas & apartments on Menorca. |
| PCI Holidays |
01305 835835 |
Property Care International is a property management company with private villas available for holiday lets in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy |
| Prestbury Travel |
01625 858158 |
For a while this was called 'Villa Connections'. Prestbury offer hotel/resort holidays, but they also have over 300 private villas on a range of Caribbean islands: Barbados, St Lucia, Jamaica, Tobago, Grenada, Mustique, Bequia, and the British Virgin Islands. |
| Private Properties Abroad |
01423 330533 |
A large range of magnificent country houses, villas, chateaux, and converted farmhouses in France, Italy and Spain (Balearic Islands) |
| Quality Villas |
01442 870 055 |
Quality villas is a family-run business set up by Margaret Rees in 1986, specialising in luxury villas, farmhouses and chateaux with private pools, in coastal and rural France and Italy. |
| Self Catering Hols.com |
01270 820682 |
Online villa agency with privately-owned properties in over 20 countries worldwide including South Africa, Turkey, Cyprus, Canada, Scotland, Croatia, Spain & Barbados. |
| Serendipity Rentals |
029 20 44 38 44 |
A selection of special villas to rent in Spain, France, Italy or Antigua. Serendipity used (2003) to be called La Perla Living Rentals. |
| Shamrock Cottages |
01823 681060 |
Over 300 cottages in some of the most scenic locations in Ireland with ferry & car hire packages. |
| Solmar Villas |
0870 381 3000 |
Private villas with pools in the Balearics, Canaries, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Spain & Portugal. |
| Sovereign Villas |
08703 661 634 |
Sister brand to Meon Villas (see above). |
| Spirit of Greece |
01372 749 579 |
Greek villas and apartments in Paxos, Lefkas, Kefalonia, Lesvos and Halki. SoG is a villa only agency but has recently teamed up with Sky Value Ltd, an ATOL and ABTA protected flight specialist. |
| Summer's Leases |
0845 230 22 23 |
Apartments, Cottages, Farmhouses & Villas in Tuscany & Umbria |
| Susan Paradise |
01395 597759 |
Small specialist holiday-rental company offering 150 character properties from fisherman’s cottages to luxurious villas in three regions of France: Brittany, Cote d'Azur and the Auvergne. |
| Thomas Cook Style Collection |
0871 895 0095 |
Upmarket villas with pools on mainland Spain, The Balearics & the Canary Islands, the Algarve, Greece, Cyprus, Crete, Turkey, Gozo and Florida. |
| Thomson Villas |
0871 231 4691 |
TUI/Thomsons group built this brand back in 2004 from the portfolios and expertise of two independent villa specialists in particular: OSL & Something Special. The 25-year-old OSL had a portfolio of over 250 villas with private pools in the Algarve, Corfu, Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Cyprus, Lanzarote, Menorca, and Kefalonia. Something Special (I remember them back in the late eighties - Ed) had a portfolio of 1,000 villas particularly in Florida but also around the Mediterranean. So plenty of expertise and choice here, but now fully subsumed into the corporate giant. |
| Time Away |
020 8343 2590 |
Self-catering properties in the most popular regions of the Italian mainland, and Sardinia & Sicily....plus one property in France. |
| To Escape To |
0871 711 5282 |
Set up in 2003 by Ingram Casey and Tom Corcoran to offer long-haul villa holidays and personalised travel arrangements to Southern Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Mozambique and Botswana. Their website is notably easy to use and won a 'Best Tour Operator Website' award in June 06. |
| Tots To France |
020 8123 4511 |
Small online lettings agency specialising in toddler-friendly rental accommodation in France. |
| Tots to Travel |
0870 458 5528 |
Online agency specialising in villas for families with toddlers in France and Italy. They check out safety standards at each property and make sure they are fully kitted out with all the baby and child equipment families need, from cots and highchairs, to sterilisers, blenders, toys, potties and more. Also babysitting is available at most properties. |
| Umbria Rentals |
07776 250 381 |
A small number of apartments and villas in/around the Umbrian village of Panicale. |
| Villa Retreats |
0870 013 3979 |
Specialise in rental of luxury villas with pools and apartments in Portugal, Andalucia, Mallorca, Menorca, Croatia, Barbados and Florida. |
| Villastogo.com |
0845 241 7733 |
Launched in April 05, an online villa agency offering apartments and villas with pools in Mallorca, Tenerife, Corfu, Cyprus, Ireland and Florida. It was set up by Kathleen O'Brian who used to be with Something Special which got swallowed up by Thomsons. |
| VFB Holidays |
01242 240 340 |
Several hundred holiday properties of all kinds, many with pools, in France. |
| Villa Agency, The |
01392 424 400 |
Villas with pools in Portugal |
| Villa Book, The |
0845 500 2000. |
A portfolio of over 1,000 luxury villas and city apartments worldwide. (One to watch. Why? Because the man behind it, Edward Marquis, is the guy who created the 'top dog' in luxury villa rentals, International Chapters, which became part of Abercrombie & Kent. This is him setting out on his own again. Ed) |
| Villa Centre |
01223 513593 |
A portfolio of around 60+ villas with private pools in France, Spain, and Italy.
|
| Villa Company, The |
0845 052 0660 |
Thirty years experience providing holiday villas with private pools in Florida, Spain, Italy France (also self catering ski chalets in France) and Portugal's Algarve. |
| VillaParade |
08444 720040 |
Large number of villas (450+), mostly with pools, in Portugal, Lanzerote, Cyprus, Kefalonia, Crete, Mallorca, and Menorca. |
| Villa Plus |
01727 836686 |
Villas in the Algarve (Portugal) and Costa del Sol (Spain). |
| Villarama.com |
n/a |
U.S. web rental company with offices in the UK (and priced in sterling). They have a large number of villas in over 30 countries. |
| Villa Select |
01789 764909 |
Small specialist villa company run by Roger and Pamela Ball offering carefully selected villas with pools on the Algarve, Cyprus, Costa Blanca, Menorca, & Majorca. |
| Villas Worldwide |
01756 751777 |
Villa holiday specialist offering villas in France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Indonesia/Bali, South Africa and the Caribbean. |
| Vintage Travel |
01954 261431 |
Villa specialists since 1989 in France, Spain & Portugal and more recently, Croatia and Greece. Member of AITO. |
| Wimco |
0870 850 1144 |
The West Indies Management Company is a reservations and marketing company specialising in private holiday villas and distinctive small hotels in the Caribbean and now Europe. |
| |
Someone missing?
 Suggest a web site for this list (ID: lk2villa)
|
|
|
