Go through one of the online sites as you can pay by credit card. Something like Villarenters or Holiday Lettings.

that is a good idea if you are worried most villa and apartment owners are uk based and in fairness i haven't heard any bad feed back about this sort of problems

Not neccesarily true unfortunately

See this topic - http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=136857

It certainly hasn't put me off private rentals, far from it, but you do still have to be very careful. I certainly wouldn't choose a letting site that didn't allow feedback from renters. Ultimately the owners pay a fee to advertise and with that most of the rental companies see that as having nothing whatsoever to do with them as the contract is between you and the owner.

I'd get personal recommendations in future whether that's through HT or friends to save all the hassle I've just encountered.

we have used
holiday-rentals & holiday lettings,on our trips to turkey.in fact we have one booked,in 26 days.
can't wait
tracy

If you book through Holiday Rentals they offer a free guarantee up to £3300 the details can be seen via this link http://guaranteeuk.homeaway.com/ .You can also see how long the property owner has been advertising with them and any one renting their property for any time should have previous guests they can put you in touch with who have rented from them in the past. Please also remember that the property owner is taking a risk allowing some one they know very little about use their holiday home.

Thanks for all replys seen a few on owners direct website,if paid with a credit card cheque would I have same protection as credit card?

I don't know about credit card cheque cover but the same £3300 guarantee applies to Owners Direct as they are all part of the same group, so unless you are spending more than £3300 there is no risk no matter how you pay card or cheque. You must register your trip with the home and away group then pay and it should then be worry free, hope that reassures you

I have just booked a villa myself, and have to pay a 20% deposit off £120 we where given a uk nat west account to put the money into nat west have assured us if this is a scam they will refund.

Its my first time doing this so im nervous, I will let you know how I get on after septmeber

we had to put our deposit,into a lloyds bank account,for this years rental.i preferred doing this,as it was quicker & easier,than faffing about with cheques.
i'm sure everything,will be ok,
tracy

im sure every thing will be fine as most owners are trust worthy people

Hi booked my villa now in turkey through owners direct, got to book flights, but thinking of leaving that untill after christmas. Ive seen some decent times for thomson but as there is 15 to book and you have to pay at time of booking not everyone can afford it at the moment, just hope there will be enough seats left .

Don't know if I'd risk leaving the flights that long - 14 of us stayed in a villa last September and couldn't all get on the flight we wanted, and that was booking nearly 12 months before.

i would get my flights booked asap even before booking the villa as flight times and sometimes dates change and the villa may not be ready for you. also how do you know what date the flight will be on, to book the villa.

I checked all flights before booking the villa. Most flights are on mondays saturdays thursdays, with various airlines so shouldnt have a problem.

Hi Shamus

holiday booked 10/8/09 - 24/08/09

We have just come back from holiday in Hisaronu, we had been to Hisaronu before and loved it. This holiday was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime for the whole family, it turned into the most horrendous holiday we have ever had. We booked a private villa. The villa was beautiful, but there were no bars on the windows or doors apart from three rooms on ground level and on the the 1st day of our second week we were burgled the place was ransacked and the safe was stolen from the villa. We are still traumatised by the whole thing. We lost money, thousands of pounds of jewellery, travellers cheques, passports, mobile telephones, i pods and aftershaves. The company who maintain these villas were aware of breakins in villas in Ovacik 5 days before we were burgled but failed to warn us. The husband of another couple who were burgled said that the double glazed windows are very easy to open (he was a double glazing expert). I would hate for anyone else to go through what we have. If you do go ahead and book a villa take all of your valuables out with you. Apparently these are organised gangs and the Jandarma are aware of them. We had very little help from the Jandarma, the company who maintain the villas and the British Consular. We have learnt a very costly lesson and it has put me off ever going to Turkey again, but this is happening all over the world.

Hope this information keeps you and your family safe and you don't have a ruined holiday.

Joan

Dont let it put you off Turkey as you said can happen any where.

Dont bring expensive stuff with you, open bank account as soon as arrive, carry pasports with you, pain i know

So sorry you have had such a terirble time its very frightening.

I echo that, please don't let it put you off Turkey. I have been holidaying in a villa in Turkey several times a year for 5 years and have never had a problem of any kind. No comfort to you I know but you were unlucky. Having bars on windows doesn't necessarily protect you as anyone determined to get in will rip them out easily. They also prevent a quick escape in the event of fire or earthquake.

That was a terrible thing to happen to you but it could happen anywhere so don't let it put you off Turkey. To be honest I would never take thousands of pounds worth of jewellery anywhere (not that I own that much jewellery anyway!) as it is always going to be a risk. I never take too much of value and we just take cash out from the ATMs as we need it. I wouldn't take my passport out with me though as I feel I have more chance of losing it when I am out than if it is in the accomodation.

theres also the other side of this, we have just rented our apt in akyaka out to a travel agent and her family, so we thought that would be a good safe bet grr ,my silly mother didnt take any deposits and they left the place a bomb site, broke plates, bowls, left soaking wet clothes on the settee thats left stains, we always leave it complete with plenty of washing powder , liquid, sun creams, toilet rolls , kitchen rolls etc,as we use it ourselves and like to have all that there when we arrive next time and she took everything that was left

so this has worried us now as its the first time we have allowed strangers to stay there,usually only friends and family, and now we are wondering whether to bother again , ive told her if its let again to strangers to get a deposit ,shes too trustworthy