homelidays.com

My family recently returned from a stay in Fiumme Freddo Bruzzio, Italy where I rented a villa through Homelidays.com. Upon returning home, I wrote a testimnial about the property and my stay. I felt that my review of the property was fair and honest. I described both the pros and the cons (although mostly cons). The biggest issue and the one I felt was most important to alert future potential renters about was that this property was infested with bed bugs! There were ten of us and we all recieved multiple bites from these disgusting critters (2 of the kids had multiple bites on their faces). At first, we thought that they were mosquito bites because we had to leave the windows open at night ( no air conditioning --which is typical of the area). We alerted Homlidays to this issue through our testimonial and a few weeks later when I went to see see if the testimonial was listed and to my amazement... it was not! I contacted Homelidays.com and the emails lsited below were communicated back and forth regarding my testimonial. I highly recommend NOT USING the homeliday.com website for travel accomodations because everything listed on the website is biased on the behalf of the property owner. The website does not care about the renters well-being! Beware of the website!!!

MY RESPONSE:

Dear Homelidays,
I am writing to you in respone to a testimonial that I had written on a villa that I had rented in Italy in August 2010 (please see my dossier). I understand that you had to give the owner a chance to respond to the testimonial before you could validate and post my testimonial. I see that she has written a reponse to my testimonial and allthough we do not agree with each other I believe that the potential renters have to right to know what the property is really like. According to the owners respoonse she has been renting the property since 2006 and yet there is NOT ONE TESTIMONIAL listed on this property. I find that a little strange. I see that you do not want to post my testimonial and wonder if there have been other testimonials similar to mine that were never posted (which could have helped me when I was looking for a villa to rent). I request that you list both my testimonial and the owners response to the testimonial on your website. I would think that your company would want your renter to be informed about the type of property that they may be renting. Please, please, please consider posting the testimonial and the reponse by the owner. If you put yourself in my shoes, or the shoes of a potential renter, wouldn't you want to know this information prior to renting this property. I think that it is only fair to post the testimonial (and the owners response)!!!! Please let me know if your company is going to list the testimonial or not. Thnk you for your time an consideration! If there are any questions that you may have regarding the rental, please contact me as I will be more that willing to give your all the details of the villa and rental period.

Sincerely

***********

HOMELIDAYS RESPONSE:

Dear **********,

Thank you for your email. We fully understand your concerns.

Please be assured that this owner only has 2 stays registered for this property, and the other is still awaiting the testimonial of the renter.

In light of the owner’s right to reply, the relevant department reviewed the testimonial along with the owner’s response and decided, on this occasion, not to publish the testimonial on the site.

However, your comments will remain in the owner’s dossier for them to see and for our administrative purposes.

We take negative feedback very seriously, and will investigate if necessary should this owner receive further negative feedback.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.

Kind regards,

Stephen
Client services EN
www.homelidays.co.uk

MY RESPONSE:

Stephen,

I have to let your company know that I am very disappointed in your services. It is quite clear that you are only looking out for the owners best interest since they are the ones who pay you! It is a shame that other potential renters will not be able to make an informed decision regarding this rental property. I hope that the renter (that you spoke of in your email) for this property will take the time to write a testimonial, but then again who knows if it will ever be posted!!! This is definitely a blemish on your record as well. You say that your company takes negative feedback very seriously, but yet out of all the testimonials that I have read on your website there is not one negative testimonial listed..... Is this a coincidence? Could all the properties listed on your site be absolutely perfect or does your company choose to not post negative feedback? I think I already know the answer to this question! It is absolutely shameful that your company is misleading their customers!!! In reviewing my testimonial, I do not feel that it is a terrible review. I pointed out the positives and the negatives and was 100% honest on both sides. These testimonials are used by the renters as a tool to help them distinguish which potential property is best suited for them. The renter has the right to know the good as well as the bad! Again, I strongly encourage your company to post both my testimonial and the response from the owner! As I do not agree with the owner's response, I feel that it is important for the renter to see both sides of the story. Seeing as your company is highly unlikely to ever post my testimonial, I would like to inform your company that I will NEVER use your services again and will warn as many people as I can regarding your unethical practices. I request that you inform me if your company does decide to post the testimonial.

Respectfully,
**********

I hope this is enough evidence as to why not to use the Homelidays.com website!