James Villas Reviews 

This is such a shame to write, as have been on several villa holidays with James villa before and they have all gone smoothly and the villas have been nice. However, we had a villa booked in Skopelos which with the recent floods meant that our flights got cancelled and we had no way to get to the island. We spoke to James villas several times during this and asked if they would be able to cancel the villa or give us a credit note for the value. We even asked if we could move the booking and pay any difference in cost. All they could say to us was no. It was impossible, and that we should try to find another flight to a flooded island. They didn’t even attempt to do anything, and therefore we have lost all the money on our booking as we physically cannot get to the island. The staff are nice and it’s not their fault, but it’s just a horrible position from the company when we have used them before and they certainly could have at least tried to help. Such a shame, this is will be last time I will ever use this company due to this. There are better ones out there.

Warning: be careful booking James Villas.

I reserved a villa with James Villas and booked flights around this only to be told the villa was never available.

After my reservation confirmation, James Villas got in touch much later via email to say that the property was never available to book. I was told that the way the system is designed, for their last minute deals, means that this is common: they only check if the property is still available once the reservation has been made. This is not mentioned anywhere, so I booked n flights for a family of 6 given that I was told I had a reservation.

Awful design to put the customer in this position. The customer service team tried to help but offered no apologies after James Villas put us in that position.

James Villas used to be a good company, used them since 2008 - you could trust their listings and the accuracy of their description - they used to source their own villas with private swimming pools and you could assume there was a minimum standard and checks done before listing any property on their web site.

They are now just an agency to other agencies and European sites - I booked a private villa with a private swimming pool and paid for it online - the property did not have any reviews on James Villas web site but I trusted the description - I came accidentally across some reviews of the same property on other web site over a month before the booing date- it turns out the villa was an annex and the swimming pool is inside the landlord home who lives next door - there was also a flight training centre very close - nothing of this was mentioned in their listing - when contacting James Villas they were useless and helpless and asked me to contact the landlord directly to resolve any issues - I now came back from this holiday and it was even worse than expected.
James Villas is now just like eBay but they don't even guarantee the transaction and don't add any value - just add cost, you could get a proper villa somewhere else for half the cost - I made friends and relatives who used James Villas in the past on my recommendation aware - would not use or recommend again

Be very careful with this company. We arrived to find our villa owner was away on holiday and so were left stranded. James Villas had confirmed and re-confirmed our arrival date and time but apparently not told the owner. We were left in the middle of nowhere and they were unable to resolve this. They made us speak to their local office and sort it out ourselves. A reimbursement has been offered but still hugely out of pocket and a totally disrupted holiday. Be very careful as their business model appears to be booking/communication only meaning there is little help when there is a problem.

We booked a 2 week holiday to Portugal, the Algarve with James Villas, we chose the Villa called: Alcantarilha Villa, in Armacao de Pera, Algarve, in July 2023 for 14 nights.

On the booking it is advised to hire a car, which we did. But when we go to the Villa there was a car parked on the premises and the main gate was locked?

I found this very odd considering the fact that hiring a car has been advised so surely James Villas, must know that anyone would prefer to park their car on the premises and not just on the main road due to the potential of damage to the car.

Anyhow we decided to get on with our holiday but as the days went on, it was quite irritating to come back to the villa everyday and observe this eyesore i.e. a car with a car cover parked where our car should be?

Towards the end of our holiday, I could not take it anymore and I emailed James Villas, as it became obvious to me that I have been paying for someone else’s parking. I told them this is obviously the case and I think it is only fair that we be compensated for this.

Here is the reply I received back to my surprise:

"Good afternoon

Thank you for your email.

Please be advised we could have dealt with the issue at the beginning of your stay if this was reported but i have now sent an email to the villa owner to ask what they can do so you can park your car on the drive.

Kind regards

Xxxxx"

I just could not believe what I was reading. I complained about this rude reply to James Villas of which the manager who subsequently took up my double complaint agreed that this was no way to send such a reply to a customer, most especially to a customer that has book 3 Villas in 12 months with them.

To cut a long story short, they apparently contacted the owner of the Villa and the owner said the car parking space was not part of the deal to rent the Villa.

To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

I doubt that James Villas would receive my custom again, what a terrible bunch of people. They lack basic customer service and empathy. James Villas are able to take you money but not deliver on service.

There are much better alternatives out there.

I booked a holiday with James villas. They had a huge flaw with thier IT system that booked the start of your holiday the day you intended to leave. Knowing this was a problem (confirmed by customer service) they decided NOT to take the approach of looking into this and get in touch with affected customers. Almost got screwed and had to cancel my holiday last minute purely because I noticed a discrepancy i time, no real attempt to fix this or even an apology from these scumbags at all. I expect many others have had holidays ruined by now. Please check if you made a web booking and expect it to be wrong. Fortunately a competitor knew this issue with JVH and came through, even offered a discount for damage JVH do to the industry reputation. Avoided a nightmare

The villa we booked was as described. Customer service was responsive. We had a lovely holiday in Lanzarote. However......on our first evening a couple arrived at the door who had also booked the villa through James Villas. It had been double booked. Lucky for us we got to stay, but we didn't know if we would be staying in the accommodation until the next day, which made for a very anxious first evening. The poor couple were relocated elsewhere. This has massively put me off wanting to book through this company again.

I normally like James villa holiday but have to give our current holiday 2 Stars as I am really annoyed angry upset with the service and state of the villa our nightmare Started after arrival my partner is physically disabled and has to use crutches to get around any where she had to be rushed on to hospital with what looked like stroke sympthons so after finding the villa with no wifi or data on the phone unfortunately the car picked not through james villa the actual entreance to the villa is up a very very steep incline which is a struggle unles you get belongings out moving on the villa is not clean the 2 chairs are dirty the shower curtains are black and dirty at te bottom now there was no mention o a steep hill to actulay get to villa it is totally not fit for use if you have a physical disability i have tried raising my concerns through james villas but have failed to get a respone raisingy my concerns

Further to my last post, as I did not have enough characters!
I’m very excited to be going home, some of us stuck it out and the reason for this is as a family we all have busy lives and wanted to spend quality time together. We did contact James villas and they said that the place should be cleaned after a week. The lady turned up and offered after they contacted her although this was just to change the sheets and because we were all convinced of bed bugs we had washed these ourselves.
Further issues for me is the cleanliness. The kitchen is not up to standard, we found knives and plates filthy, muck and old food around the cabinets, and cobwebs under all the chairs in the dining area, never been cleaned. The dust pan has never been cleaned and the kettle which has no automatic switch to turn off I had to descale, it was full of scales and we realised this when we had our first coffee full of white flakes! They supplied a bug killing machine, which is broken and the house is cluttered with unnecessary dirty furniture.
The images on James villas shows the dining area downstairs looking lovely, in reality it’s nothing like it, broken or unstable furniture, it looked like an antique shop has been raided and they are using the place to store all their junk! the grounds say they are lovely and well kept, not the case, and the cushions for the furniture around the pool is absolutely disgusting, honestly filthy, looks like 20 years of people’s sweat and dribble!
The middle floor looks like the pictures, however these are areas I imagine are used least. Everywhere else is dirty and just grotty.
My parents sink leaked the whole time, and the lady said it was something they had done, although there was a bucket underneath it collecting waste water when we arrived!
The lady turned up once and put chlorine in the pool, although this was yesterday and we are leaving tomorrow!
We called james villas at the beginning of the holiday,and they contacted the female, and if they hadn’t she would not have turned up and offered to clean the sheets, although when she did no other cleaning was done, toilets, Général tidy up. She just legged it!
Interestingly, prior to coming here there were many reviews about this place on google, some said that the host was rude, since I have been here this place has zero reviews anywhere now apart from trust pilot!, and they are from myself and my family! They have all disappeared! Very strange! Otherwise I would be warning everyone to stay well away. Booking.com says they have an unverified score of ten but no reviews!
Never on a holiday have we all wanted to leave, some have and driven home.
As I said we are not a fussy family, we all work hard and don’t generally complain. We were told a rep came here from James villas last year and checked the air con, well they must have come in the winter! All the nice pictures on their website are nothing in reality, there is no nice furniture outside with a cover, the place is not well kept at all.
The only nice thing about this place is the shower in the turret, which they didn’t take a picture of and the fact the building is pretty.
There is no welcome instructions, ie directions to the tip etc! Just a piece of paper in English about the pool. Nothing else.
I’m sorry if you’re reading this and you are due to come here, this is not luxury, nor should it be in anyone’s signature collection!
James villas never contacted us again as they stated in the last review I posted, but we will be making an official complaint and will expect to get compensated.
We are looking forward to going home, and never coming back here again!

This review covers the Sales Supervisors. I have to say I have never encountered a Sales Team who are so helpful and fast in responding. They kept me informed by phone and email whilst I was waiting for a change to my booking. They managed to obtain the change I required.

Booked a villa in France from their Signature Collection. Fair to say having read what signature offers from their website this isn’t what we received. Villa was very dated and not a reflection of the photos on the website. Said there was air con. No air con at the villa just a fan blowing hot air round in 38 degree heat. 11 adults and 7 kids who are very disappointed and all feel we have been miss sold a holiday. Still got 3 days to try and get through before this unforgettable holiday is over.

Very simple site to use. All the filters are very useful to find the accommodation you are looking for. Also seem to have the best deals out there for villas that i found online.

Utterly appalling! We booked the villa Levante for 2 weeks at the end of July and were really looking forward to it. However, upon arrival we were shocked to discover a building site 20 m across the road from the villa. This meant that we were woken up by delivery lorries every day at 8am, as well as the constant noise of generators, telehandlers, beeping, crane noises, drilling activities, etc... We were not able to use the sunbeds or the pool because of the dust and the surrounding noise, nor were we able to enjoy the "quiet and peaceful villa" as advertised on James Villa website. We made several complaints to James Villa who said they were very sorry but we were told that nothing could be done because the works were going on illegally. No compensation could be given as the villa owner refused to. James Villa conveniently were able to hide behind their T&C and refused to help us any further. Never again!!

Avoid at all costs! Completely unprofessional! Booked a villa in Greece from March since I had a friend with a big family flying from the US I had informed them they had 5 kids since day one since I wanted no problems but they went ahead and cancelled my August reservation in Greece 7 days before travel date with the excuse of having one 5 year old over capacity. When I told them I had informed them of that back in March they said sorry I can’t find the note… to add to all this I spoke with the 3 times that week in August to make sure all was good all of them told me it was sorted only to receive a cancellation message from Airbnb 10 minutes later, they didn’t even have the curtesy of letting me know themselves. From what I learned this is a known scam they do to get higher rate in hot destinations like Greece during high season. Their rating across many different customers explains everything.

Booked villa early to get good price. fully paid. Then web description changed from private pool to shared (no I wasn't contacted). Four emails and 3 phone calls later I've still no idea what is going on. About to cancel and book with alternative company and take James Villas to small claims court. No customer service whatsoever.

Update - it has taken a considerable time and numerous phone calls before finding Sophie, who has done her best to rectify things. Latest promise is that owner has now agreed to original terms of a private pool. I will give a final update (and possibly amend rating) after the holiday.

Further update: was contacted again by JV, this time to tell me the internet TV was no longer available. After much toing and froing with customer service and finally contact with villa owner this was resolved (hopefully - still have not travelled). I have to say the ladies at JV customer service have worked very hard and even got me some financial compensation but if I'm honest I wouldn't use JV again simply because of their remoteness from the villa owners. I find the sites that offer a direct link to the owner much smoother to use but full marks for the efforts of the ladies in Maidstone.

Well last update - had the holiday - there was an Internet TV (3 in fact!) and I got compensation. Villa was pleasant enough as was owner. Have I changed my mind about using JV again - no, whole experience reinforced how important direct contact with villa owner is but the ladies in Maidstone have earned an improved rating for JV - up from 1 to 3.

Please beware before you book and ensure that you check the terms and conditions! James Villas state that they are not liable for any information on what they supply on their website They also state that the contract is between you and a third-party, if any issues arise. They are effectively wavering any responsibility from James Villas, leaving you to deal with an unknown company in a foreign country - which you have no information about when booking. The villa we booked was described on the James Villa website as; ‘delightful’ and ‘charming’. The photographs used are 11 years old. They do not reflect the current state of the villa. We arrived at the villa in Cyprus. It is in a terrible condition with serious safety issues. One of the first things we discovered was a knife lying in the grounds, which our daughter discovered. The
next day, when James Villa’s office was open - we raised the issues of the appalling condition of this villa. After supplying with photographs and videos they agreed that the property should not have been rented out in its current condition. During one of the conversations with the office staff, they informed that our contract is not with them, but the property maintenance company.
After several days they informed us that they couldn’t move us.
And we were stuck between them and the property maintenance company Which was farcical. James Villa stated that we would have to go down the compensation route. We did look at trying to move due to the safety issues and the dirt of the place. However, it was peak season. And there wasn’t much options and what was available would have been to expensive. We were stuck in this appalling villa and the two week holiday that we had worked hard to pay for was ruined. And returning back to the UK. We went down every avenue that was available credit card ,ADTA, citizens advice trading standards, and then you realise that you really do not have any consumer rights. The credit card from NationWide said that we should’ve moved out and make a claim on our return, although this wouldn’t be guaranteed. we were looking at the small claims court.

And out of the blue James Villa contacted us almost 2 months after the holiday and apologised for our experience and offered to pay back an agreed amount as compensation
Which we have accepted and are grateful for. They also informed us that they would not be using this villa and the property agents in Cyprus anymore. We would like to say a big thank you to Connor from James Villa We believe he may have had something to do with this.

We booked a villa in Lanzarotte in June for my family - total 6 adults and a child.
Just 2 weeks before we were due to go they said the owner had cancelled all bookings which panicked us. They offered an alternative which was 10 miles away from our original resort. We checked ourselves and found a similar to the original but in the resort we wanted - surprised they didn’t offer this but they agreed to change.it wasn’t cheap at over £4200 without flights so expected a good villa. It stated through James Villas it had 5 days maid cleaning out of 7 which was a real plus. When we arrived there were a few issues so I contacted their rep who said they would get the owner to sort out - he did some things but there was a notice that due to Covid there would be no cleaning other than before we arrived. That was disappointing, then there was a note saying the pool would be cleaned 3 times a week - it wasn’t they came once on the 2nd day and with the weather debris got into the pool we cleaned it ourselves. When we returned I wrote to James and I said we should get a partial refund for having to keep the villa and pool clean which was part of their contract which they did not uphold. They said we should have contacted the owner but that isn’t our responsibility. The owner left the notice they would not clean so why should we question that.
James Villa then said the owner would have been happy to supply the cleaning if we asked but how were we to know that.
They hide behind the owner but my contract was with Janes Villa and the y should not put the onus of failing to meet their contract on the customer
Watch you don’t get conned as this is typical of a company who say they care but don’t!11

I saw James Villas response to this and there was NO mutual agreement
They said that it wasn’t their responsibility and to take it ABTA as that was the end of the matter
Joke of a company
Please check other review sites and many are truthful anoint their experience
Still 1 star and will never use again

Booked a villa in paphos (villa Helena) for my family in june 23. On our second night we were burgled with cash and other items took. It was 100% an inside job (cleaners) unlocking windows which you haven’t used.
We reported to police, who agreed it was suspicious and had been to the villa before with identical circumstances. We also informed James villas who said they would send someone out to speak to us and call us the next day for an update. This did not happen.
Once we arrived home I contacted them and in a nutshell they are not bothered. We got an apology but basically have been told we should have been more careful and use the safe which was locked shut with no instructions and was not even screwed down to any surface. The incident happened not even 24 hrs after we arrived and we did NOT use any windows in the villa. Their customer service is rubbish and I would never book or recommend using James villas. Check other reviews on booking.com and air bnb on the villa???

Our holiday with James Villas is the worst Holiday experience we have even had. We selected our Villa in the countryside as was advertised, only to be confronted by an imposing half built hotel on the boundary of the villa proerty. James Villas provided no support while we were on holiday to help remedy the situation and are continuing to dispute the existence of this new building despite all of the photo evidence provide - I know its unbelievable, but James Villas are truly unrpofessional and horrible people to deal with.

Disappointing quality of villa Biel D'or

We found the following shortcomings when arriving in the villa: Safe locked, floors dirty, balcony door cannot be closed after burglary attempt, faucet in bathroom sprays all over the place, bottom plug in sink cannot be opened, no hot water in bathroom 1, window in bathroom defective and cannot be opened, awning on terrace does not work, saw rat in outdoor kitchen, dirty and greasy outdoor furniture, swimming pool dirty, light in swimming pool not working.

3 days after notification to the landlord, the safe was unlocked, hot water repaired and rat poison laid out in flower beds. The rest of the errors were never rectified.

We have asked for a price reduction, but have not succeeded?