Private villas can deliver some of the most memorable travel experiences — unmatched privacy, space to spread out, and the comfort of a home tailored to your needs.
They also come with a more complex and manual booking process than hotels. My role is to make it easy for you and protect you from common pitfalls.

How the Process Works

1. Initial call or email
   We confirm your dates, destination preferences, budget range, headcount, and any must-haves or deal breakers.

2. Outreach to trusted suppliers
   We contact our vetted villa partners and managers — people we know deliver consistent quality and reliable service — to check live availability and request tailored options.

3. Review and curation
   We carefully review each proposal against your criteria, flag trade-offs, and eliminate anything that doesn’t meet our standards.

4. Shortlist delivery
   You receive a curated set of options with honest notes on pros, cons, and value for money.

5. Hold (when possible)
   If the supplier allows, we will place a brief courtesy hold while you decide. Holds are rare and often short, so we move quickly.

6. Contract and payment
   Once you’ve chosen, we facilitate the booking directly with the supplier, review the contract, and walk you through payment terms.

7. Pre-arrival and concierge
   We coordinate any pre-stocking, staffing, and on-site services, and connect you with your local contact, and provide any information you need to access the villa.

Things to Know

A manual, hands-on process

Unlike hotels, where we can instantly check live inventory and rates, the villa quoting process requires direct outreach to individual suppliers. Because of this, it can take 1–2 weeks to compile and curate your set of vetted options.

Villas can book very quickly, and unpredictably. So once we present options, be ready to decide promptly to secure your favorite.

Why we don’t work with Airbnb, Vrbo, or similar platforms

Sites like Airbnb or Vrbo are listing platforms, not management companies. Properties are often unvetted, service standards vary widely, and there’s no reliable point of escalation if something goes wrong.

We only work with trusted villa partners and property managers we know personally. These suppliers are vetted for quality, transparency, and responsiveness, and they provide direct support during your stay.

Because of the higher service standards, dedicated management, and stronger contractual protections, non-Airbnb villas may be priced at a premium compared to properties with similar characteristics found on Airbnb. That premium reflects the confidence, quality assurance, and peace of mind you gain by booking through a vetted, professional source. If paying that premium feels uncomfortable, a professionally managed villa may not be the right fit for your trip.

Navigating a fragmented market

The villa rental market is highly fragmented — many properties are listed through multiple brokers, sometimes with different rates, terms, or inclusions. Once you’ve selected a villa, we cross-check our trusted supplier network to secure the best combination of price, contract terms, and service.

If we present a villa and you see it listed for less elsewhere, share that listing with us and we will try to negotiate a price match whenever possible.

Villa Search Deposit & Trip Coordination Fee

Because each villa search is highly manual — involving outreach to multiple suppliers, availability checks, and careful curation — we collect an upfront villa search deposit before beginning the process.

If you book one of the villas we present, this deposit is applied toward the cost of your rental. If you decide not to book and we have provided options that meet your stated criteria — or, in the course of executing the search, we determine there are no viable options that meet your criteria and you are unable to adjust them — the deposit is retained to cover the work completed.

In addition to the search deposit, we charge a separate trip coordination fee once your booking is confirmed. This covers our time to coordinate all arrangements during your stay (things like pre-arrival pantry stocking, chef prepared meals, etc).

Beyond the search deposit, all remaining villa payments are made directly to the villa supplier, following their deposit, payment, and cancellation terms. We will help facilitate these payments and ensure you have all details in writing.