I had a reservation for a week in one of their properties. I had to cancel last minute due to an…read moreemergency with my father. I wrote the owner, Frank, and they didn't budge, not even a percentage. I had to pay 100% of rental that we didn't use. I am an owner of an Airbnb. There are rules, but rules can be mended in a critical situation. This was the first and last time I will use Holiday Lettings.

Do not book with TripAdvisor's Holiday Lettings. Renters have ZERO protection when there are…read moreproblems. Owners know you have no recourse and take full advantage, with TripAdvisor's blessing.  We booked a rental house for two weeks, and it was nothing like the photos. The house was in a state of complete disrepair. The c02/smoke detectors were going off / in an alarm state the entire time, the guest bathroom shower stopped working, doorknobs fell off doors daily, a sewage smell permeated the primary bathroom, doors and knobs were missing from closets, lightbulbs were burnt out, the keypad to unlock the only entry door was ancient and malfunctioning, the pool cleaner was broken (eventually it was removed entirely,  leaving the pool unclean and unusable the entire time), the washer/dryer were broken, etc. There's a much longer list of things that were going wrong. The rental was nothing like the photos and description on TripAdvisor's Holiday Lettings site. It was in terrible condition and very unclean. We immediately let the owners know about these problems (of which they were already aware, based on many years of poor reviews on other sites). The owners' reply was that we should vacate. We had already flown here, taken time off work, and prepaid for the rental entirely. No attempt or offer was made to address any issues. TripAdvisor was no help. The owners already have your money and know you have no recourse, so they make no attempt (or even pretense) to fix anything. This site is a scam.

Be aware of this apartment, and of all the others managed by the same agency- I booked one of their…read morestudio in full centre in Oxford for approximately a 3 months stay directly with the agency via their own website and they made me pay everything upfront. Now I am stuck with a different apartment from what I booked (although in the same building), and it is clear that they are taking advantage of the fact that I come from another country and have already paid the amount in full. They won't answer my phone calls and only correspond via email, refuse to put me in contact with a manager or with the owner of the agency, and ignore the details of the apartment specified in the contractual agreement. Here is the story in detail: Once I got in Oxford, they switched the apartment to a smaller one.The lady who checked me in was extremely aggressive and rude once I told her about the problem. To give you an idea of her tone, she told me "what was I expecting her to do- to invite her to her own home?!" and that "I was wrong" and the apartment booked to me was the one given. Contrary to what she said, however, I have a signed contract which states the number of the apartment/reference online different from what they gave me. Yet, they keep on ignoring this "Detail" and instead referring to a self-generated document where they say that I paid for the other apartment. They even switched the reference number on their website after I complained attaching the contract (luckily, I have screen shot of before and after!!). What is worse is that they won't answer the phone nor return my calls. So, I emailed them and explained the situation, as well as asked to speak to a manager. After many lousy replies they told me that the manager is sick, and that I have to wait to talk to a new one when they hire one, and the owner- whose name will not be disclosed- is not available. They also added that if the computer self-generated a mistake and the apartment was changed it's not their fault. So, STAY AWAY. because while the location is great and the price seems like a good deal, you will pay an additional, unreasonable price. They are clearly taking advantage of the fact that I am coming from a different country and that I had to pay everything upfront. Lastly, the apartment is awfully cold and the wifi works poorly.