Testiomonial – Villa Picasa Florida

lindafrench1970 — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:55:19 +0000

janary 2011

We was a week excelent time at Villa Picasa.

the house is like evething New. all is perfect.

all the rooms all is very good.

We really enjoyed the house.

Definitely recommend Villa Picasa to others big family.

I will back next year again.

Linda is very nice person, very professionally.

Thank you for the beautiful vacations that we spend

Mariano and Family

To View details and photos of Villa Picasa – Orlando – Florida, click here – http://www.sunandsnowinspain.com/property.php?artists_id=317

Testimonial – Villa Toscana Florida

lindafrench1970 — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:32:54 +0000

February 2011

Hi there,

“A great holiday house with everything you needed and plenty of space-children especially loved the pool and jacuzzi!”

I will certainly keep your info for the future.

Thanks again
Gillian

To view details and photos of Villa Toscana Florida – Please click here – http://www.sunandsnowinspain.com/property.php?artists_id=308

Disappointing Car Rentals – Europcar – Knock and Holiday Autos

lindafrench1970 — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:33:40 +0000

Over the past 1o years, I have had numerous car rental agreements, mostly in Spain (probably in the region of 100 rentals). I normally use a company called www.Carjet.com whose unprecedented superb customer service and accuracy means I return to use them most of the time. Not least they also get recommended to all of my customers, who generally need to book car hire.

Last week, I found myself using Holiday Autos as the broker for car rental at Knock Airport in Irealnd.

When I arrived on 7th Janaury, the local agent/car supplier was europcar. The customer service was good (the lady was very friendly and enthusiastic). However the sales methods were not. It was pointed out to me that the car is just below completely full, and if I return the car with the same level of fuel in it, the fuel charge that they had applied to my credit card of 60 euros would be refunded. I could not help but feel cheated by this mechanism of “nearly full” tactic. Surely it is much easier to establish when a car if full of petrol, and the petrol nozel clicks… My thoughts were that more to the point, customers returning their cars, would find it more difficult to gauge the amount of fuel they were putting in, and would probably go for the easy option and completely fill the car up, resulting in Europcar benefiting from the difference between nearly full and completely full (about 1/8th of a tank in my case). I certainly ensured that I did not fill the car completely, and returned it with the same amount of petrol in.

I did notice that there was a sign in the the little Europcar kiosk stating.. “you may be charged 75 euros if you return the car dirty”. It seems a little excessive to me..

I was the only person using the car, and I simply drove from the airport to my wedding venue. No food had been consumed or litter placed in the car, so the car was as spotless when I returned it. There were not even any muddy footprints on the drivers carpet (as the temperatures were freezing, so there was no soft mud on shoes)!

I return home to find that a value of £29.68 was debited to my credit card on 8th January (before I returned the car). There was no mention of this value on the agreement/invoice.

With Europcar, you have to check the car when you accept it. Check it for scratches, bumps etc. And you have to return it without any bumps/scratches.

If you use www.carjet.com there is no excess or fees for getting a scratch on your car, so there is no need ot check it on acceptance.

Sierra Nevada Spain – Skiing

lindafrench1970 — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:00:39 +0000

Just returned from skiing in the Sierra Nevada Spain (Granada ); with excellent snow conditions. Plenty of snow, lots of fluffy (non icy) runs, and beautiful sunshine.

Sierra Nevada is serviced by flights to Malaga (1.5 hours).

There is a selection of accomodation at the resort itself, or in the main village at the bottom of the ski mountain (with a preferable location being just 5 miles from the centre of Granada). To see accomodation, click here:- http://www.sunandsnowinspain.com/list_regions.php?artists_catid=1

The roads upto the ski resort are excellent. And Parking is 5 euros if you park in the overspill car park just 10 minutes walk.

Managing Holiday Rentals for UK Owners – Impact of Poor Euro Conversion Rates

lindafrench1970 — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:17:23 +0000

With the euro conversion ranging between 1.05 and 1.1 to the £ in the last few weeks, it makes poor reading for UK owners who restrict their marketing of their second homes to a UK audience. With British holiday makers watching carefully the “zones” in which they choose to holiday.. ” whether a bottle of wine will cost them £10 or £15″ does make a difference. With the low cost airlines lending themselves nicely to cheap travel around Europe, owners need to take advantage, and think of better ways to enhance their opportunities when considering other factors affecting the demand.

The need for the British owner with a property within the ‘Euro Zone’ to sustain rentals is more important now as they see their property running costs in euros cost them more in £’s.

All is not bad.. and owners should be looking to penetrate the ‘European Market’ (as in French, German, Dutch, Belgique and so on… clients). Clients in these countries are getting an absolute bargain with the very favourable exchange rate euro to £1 (if your property rental pricing is in £’s).

Providing the owner (or agent acting on their behalf) has good T’s and C’s protecting all parties, there is no reason (and often the client in the euro zone will want) to pay upfront for the total cost of the property rental, ensuring they get the best price, determined by the rate in force at which the payment crystallises. All parties concerned are therefore winners; the euro zone client gets a very favourable rate, and the owner can convert at that current rate back to £’s immediately securing the required sterling value, and get potentially earlier bookings.

For owners not accepting euros as a method of payment, it is seriously impeding their opportunities. Especially in today’s converging markets ,with many banks offering free transfers between sterling and euro and vice versa; Halifax UK to Halifax Hispania (newly Lloyds International) is one offering this service.

Linda French

www.sunandsnowinspain.com

Less Hassle, Less Money

lindafrench1970 — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 10:29:03 +0000

Everyone wants to start their holiday, arrive on time, no hassle, and not have to worry about flights delays, getting lost and arriving late. Equally local key holders do not want to put their life on hold, hanging around for families to arrive at 6pm, when they might not arrive until 10pm.

The answer is simple, which is cost effective. I have over 90% of my owners now operating a small key safe located at the properties. A win-win situation for all three parties; owners, key holders, and clients. The owners don’t have to pay meet and greet fees to their key holders; the key holders are not hanging around waiting for families to arrive, and families can arrive at their leisure, not having to worry about being late and calling someone on arrival.

The keys don’t remain in the key safe indefinitely. The key holders simply put the key in the safe on the day of arrival when they put the welcome packs in the property. The families are given the key safe code before arriving.

We are dealing with private holiday accommodation, and it is exactly that. We need to move away from the “holiday package, holiday reps” style. We are not trying to add value in this respect, instead offer complete privacy, no interruptions, and have a local team on the scene only if needed.

Testimonial – Villa Macenas – Almeria

lindafrench1970 — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:04:46 +0000

Hi Linda,

“Our stay at villa Macena was fantastic, relaxing and exactly what we were looking for. Rooms were large and comfortable and furnishings were beautiful
The house swimming pool was great and children enjoyed having it all day long.
The club pool was fantastic and staff was so nice and kindly, we watched the world cup final game there and it was a fantastic atmosphere with a relaxing view.
Mojacar is a small city with all necessary shops and restaurants, old town is beautiful. We rent a car for the duration of the stay and visited the other cities in the area, we much appreciated fish restaurants at Carboneras”.

Hope you will find this feedback helpful, please find attached my bank details.
Thank you for your business, we will recommend this adress and will come back for sure.

Best regards
Rafik

To see Villa Macenas – Click here – http://www.sunandsnowinspain.com/property.php?artists_id=416

Testimonial – Aigua Blava Apartment

lindafrench1970 — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:54:50 +0000

Dear Linda

Just back from a fantastic week in the wunderful flat with a great view, airy balconys, a great pool and especially a prefect beach with nice rocks from which you can jump into the water. Begur is a cheerful little town (facinating shops) and the supermarket by Begur Camping is really nice with many spanish specialities. The whole family enjoyed the stay. An absolutely recommendable flat

Kind regards from

Hanne, Steen and kids:)

Aigua Blava Apartment – http://www.sunandsnowinspain.com/property.php?artists_id=244

Testimonial – La Torre – Villa Bacalao

lindafrench1970 — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:52:43 +0000

‘The villa is located on a complex that is ideal for families, with a selection of bars and restaurants and the supermarket is a short walk away. The villa itself had everything we needed for our stay with a well equipped kitchen and a good size pool. We had a very comfortable stay and would recommend this villa as an ideal base for families.’

Kind Regards

Alex Harwood

Villa Bacalao – http://www.sunandsnowinspain.com/property.php?artists_id=392

Testimonial – Villas Fara and Krisana

lindafrench1970 — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:31:17 +0000

Dear Linda,

We had an amazing time at Villa Fara and Krisana. The villas were spacious and the outside living area was perfectly adequate, with lovely clean pools. The villas were superbly equipped to a high standard, very peaceful and quiet. We would most definitely use Great Holiday Rentals again.

Villa Krisana and Fara – http://www.sunandsnowinspain.com/property.php?artists_id=355 with 6 bedrooms!

Thank you

Vanessa Anderson