Premier Villas & Resorts Reviews 150

Be very careful before you consider booking through this company.

Unlike other's in their sector, they have a complete disregard for fairness or customer service.

With Covid-19, the FCO issues a travel warning well in advance of our intened travel in May 2020.

As the FCO warning began to appear in March, we contacted Premier Villas and they advised us to hang on and they would assess the circumstances accordingly.

That we did and when the FCO warning continued into April, May, June and our BA Flights were cancelled in April, we again contacted Premier Villas.

Their response, was to metaphorically simply 'shrugged their shoulders' and said it was not their problem and we should seek compensation not with them, but our travel insurance and/or credit card company.

So we were then faced with the joyful experiece of bouncing around between holiday company - holiday insurance - credit card company (a 'merry-go-round' which is still ongoing).

Perhaps, one might have has some sympathy for their business sector given all that has happened?

However, this may have been the case had it not been for the fact that they tried to cover their tracks by changing their T&Cs stating that they were not liable for the impact pandemics.

As the old adage goes "it is not the crime that gets you, it is the attempt to cover it up".

In addition, we have not had any further response from the company, despite repeated emails and phone calls, and we are circa £900 out of pocket.

So a cautionary tale to my fellow travellers.
I would be very mindful of booking with Premier Villas in the future, especially if something goes wrong!

Postscript...
Premier Villas, sent a response to my posting (see below) and on one level it is nice to hear from them.

Sadly, they responded to the wrong person and sited the case of Mr Riley.

I am NOT Mr Riley (although I do have sympathy with him) and perhaps this is a reflection on the efficiency of Premier Villas?

I am in the party of Mr McGregor (a post further below) so it would be appreciated if you could address this case and perhaps respond to him directly perhaps!

As I stated, he has is yet to get a reasonable and professional response and I am sure he would be keen to have a satisfactory dialogue in order to address this complaint.

I don't usually write reviews but I can highly recommend Premier Villas for being honourable, efficient, and pleasant to deal with. An altogether satisfactory experience.

Very good service from Premier Villas through the current Covid situation.

They have been very flexible and supportive in helping reschedule our family holiday to Portugal

I had a villa booked in Portugal for my 60th birthday in May, but obviously couldn't go as Portugal was in lockdown and BA cancelled the flights. I contacted Premier Villas for a refund, but they have refused. I have written to their CEO to complain twice, but not received a reply. Awful customer service & I shall be reporting them to the CMA.

Great experience with premier villas. From booking our villa someone has been on hand to advise, help and generally communicate with us.
Throughout this trying time of the Covid 19 outbreak, premier villas have been helpful and understanding to our situation and have done everything possible to accommodate our needs, even when we weren’t sure what we wanted to do ourselves, they have been patient and co operative.
Highly recommend this company and will be using them again in the future.

Have always experienced good communication with Premier Villas and due to Covid they have managed to move our booking to next year.

All the staff have been really helpful prior to the villa booking as we were unsure which to choose but i spoke to a lady in the office and her knowledge on Lagos was most helpful. We have received good communications during the time leading up to our booking which unfortunatley due to Covid is not happening this year but we will be using Premier Villas again as its a much more personal service than the online villa websites i have used before. Thanks

I was one of a party of 10 that had booked a Villa Casa Laguna in Vilamoura Portugal on the 1st August 2019, invoice number 7424 invoice date 25 2 2020 and was looking forward to spending quality time away with my friends. Then covid strikes, flights get cancelled and given the unique situation, thought Premier Villas would be a little understanding and at least give us the option to reschedule our dates, given we had no option to travel. We got an email back stating “Regrettably, according to our terms and conditions, we were unable to issue any refund of the booking deposit of £638 paid on the 5 August 2019 paid via credit card and a balance payment of £1917 paid on 19 February 2020 paid by American express. Total paid £2555 sincerely Premier Villas” and was also given no option to reschedule. Clearly this experience is vastly different to other positive reviews regarding coronavirus on Trustpilot. What I find more disturbing is that friends who have shared their negative experience on Trustpilot have had their post obscured during the assessment process because they have been flagged by Premier Villas. I hope that Trustpilot will honour their own guidelines “People who have had a recent, genuine experience” with regard to this and my friends post. This post will be videoed on posting (just in case I need evidence to report to CMA)

We are a group of four golfers aged 69 and over, who fall into the "at risk" category and have, therefore, been very nervous about going abroad by aeroplane during the present Covid crisis. I am pleased to say that Premier Villas have been very cooperative in helping us move our villa booking first from March 2020 to October 2020 and then further to March 2021. Many thanks from a satisfied customer!

I am aware that these are very difficult times for the travel and holiday industry. However I feel very let down by the customer service given through Premier Villas for a holiday which was booked through a friend for myself and a group of ladies.I understand they have a Force Majeure Clause in their T & C's but the group leader that booked this villa was hoping that Premier would be considerate and allow her to transfer the booking to next year for us,as due to COVID we were unable to travel there. She has been told that we are unable to transfer our booking to next year to any villa at all, and therefore have lost the £2555 that we have jointly paid.
I do not understand how other people that have recently reviewed this company have been given that option when we have been told no.
We are mainly a group of Key Workers working in schools and other industries and were very much looking forward to the opportunity of using this well deserved break next year.
Please can you re-consider your decision Premier Villas. Booking Ref: 7424 Thank you.

Have used Premier a number of times very successfully. Professional speedy service always-no dramas! With the unprecedented times we are in currently, very helpful with rescheduling our booking this year to next! Definitely recommend as they have first class affordable villas to offer. Thank you Premier.

I booked a villa in Portugal with Premier Villas and due to Covid restrictions we were unable to go. The service we have received since has been thoroughly disappointing and in my opinion legalised theft! All other companies I have dealt with re holiday bookings have offered new dates or new accommodation if the original was not available. Premier Villas however are offering absolutely nothing for the £2555 I have paid to them. How can this possibly be right? Do they have no morals or integrity. Be very wary if you are booking with this company and I most certainly will not be recommending them.

At this point in time, the travel/holiday industry must be reeling from the impact of Covid19. Although I understand that holiday personnel are exceptionally busy at this time a young lady called Amy at Premier Villas dealt with my booking for 2021 quickly and efficiently.

Have they gone bankrupt ???? Owned by Simon Jennings who is now ignoring his customers and keeping there money unfairly. Sure there behaviour will catch up with them in the long run if still going as this is just a no no, rogue behaviour......happy to adjust this review if communication is made and issue resolved as used previously with no problems.

Very bad customer service when we raised concerns regarding the recent outbreak.

One of the employees there tried to tell us that 'the restrictions are very unlikely to be in place for June, Turkey is relatively COVID-19 free' ... I think he thought we was just stupid and going to believe him.. how does anyone feel that they have the right to predict a pandemic just to keep your money and force you to pay the full balance of a holiday... money grabbing company and i'd avoid at all costs.

No apology for his response either. Would be very concerned if we went ahead with the holiday and then had a problem once we was away.

With that response we decided to cancel the villa as stated in the T&C as they obviously wasn't going to sympathise with us and I really lost confidence in the company with his predictions which are clearly SO WRONG!!!!!!!!!

Due to check-in to our villa in two and half weeks. Received generic email in March stating they would NOT be refunding any bookings cancelled due to COVID-19. I responded asking if they were going to try and speak to the villa owners given the unprecedented circumstances- they said they would, but urged me to consider the villa owners who were also struggling with the impact. Nothing since.

I have emailed several times over the last week, and received nothing back. Publicly, they remain transfixed by their Terms & Conditions which state they will not refund anything in the event of a cancellation, despite the obvious injustice and commentary from the Competition and Markets Authority, whom have reiterated that if no service was provided, a refund should be due. Apparently you cannot simply trump consumer rights with contracts.

I do feel for the travel industry - I myself work in aerospace- but their response has been SO disappointing. I've spend nearly £8k on a stay I will never get to enjoy. They have pocketed every penny and haven't even had the decency to call me. No compromise was sought. No understanding.

I recognise from other reviews that Premier Villas seem to provide a generally good service during 'normal times', but I think it's important to judge a Company by the way they treat people during the bad times. I would urge people to stay away form this company until they conduct themselves more fairly, or at least communicate. I have been left with an incredibly sour taste in my mouth and will be seeking resolution.

Terrible experience with this company. Had a funny feeling about them when I booked the villa & should have gone with instinct.

Was really looking forward to going away (on our one holiday a year) paid the deposit in February however a few weeks after this the world entered the pandemic. My Balance was due to be paid on the Monday (£1.6k), with that in my I raised my concerns with John @ Premier Villas & asked if the balance could be delayed a week or so until we know what's going on and whether the FCO allow us to travel. If not, I would have been willing to change my date until this disaster was over! The charge is 75% of the total holiday if your balance is delayed so obviously I wanted to make sure that I discussed with them first.

HOWEVER, John seemed to think that (and I quote this from his email) 'The majority of our clients will be able to travel as planned but we are advising clients to check travel insurance'. Turkey by comparison is relatively COVID-19 free (18 reported cases to date), but is undertaking some preventative measures in an effort to half any widespread infections. As a temporary measure, flights from the UK were restricted yesterday. It is unlikely this will be in place for your holiday in June. I recommend paying the final balance as extended delay may interfere with your booking' WOW!! How on earth does john seem to think he can predict this pandemic - it just goes to show this company DO NOT care about clients, all they want is your money and keep throwing terms and conditions at you.

Unfortunately Turkey currently have 9k cases and 131 deaths :( so god knows how John thought it was going to get better or how even had the right to predict this.... I personally think as long as you pay up they actually DO NOT care about customers.

I am actually quite relieved at the outcome as I would hate to be away and something happened as I do not think they would deal with any situation as long as they have your money.

I understand there is terms and conditions to every business/contract however this wasn't a personal issue this was a world wide disaster and you think they would have been understanding of this.

I would recommend to anyone and everyone NOT to use this company. They are awful to deal with. I have not had an apology from them for the customer service I received just a blunt reply and of course 'terms and conditions bla bla'

AVOID

My query was handled very efficiently despite the very difficult situation for the Premier Villas staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am very grateful to Kathryn for all her help.

We have used Premier for several family villa holidays in the Algarve.Excellent quality properties and locations, helpful staff locally and in UK. Would recommend their services to anyone thinking of a villa holiday in Portugal.