In years past there was a thriving holiday cottage business, both in the UK (sykes cottages etc) and villas in Europe. It was professional -- you'd get a compa

In years past there was a thriving holiday cottage business, both in the UK (sykes cottages etc) and villas in Europe. It was professional -- you'd get a company (either a specific one for villas, or a big package holiday company one like Thomas Cook), they would engage with local villas in the off season and sell the inventory on, presumably taking a cut. They would (at least in europe) have a nearby "rep" -- partly to deal with any complaints and issues, partly to answer questions. You would get a consistent service though. The reps would of course to try to upsell you local tours etc (which you could simply say no to when you got it). However your villa was yours from when you arrives, and the price was the price. You had no idea who owned the villa, nor did you need to know. There was no extra fees to pay (local taxes, electricity, cleaning fees etc) Now though the rise of airbnb and similar sites (booking/hotels.com etc) has broken that. The villa I had this year (through what used to be a legitimate professional villa company -- James Villas - a company I have used in the past) was run in the shoddiest way possible. I dealt with the owners, who seemed to actually live there, and wanted various forms and money, the property was covered in security cameras like a prison (which were fortunately easy to disable), they even turned up on the last evening and stayed in a ramshackle room. In the past property owners knew that they were renting out a house for the season. Now it's like "helicopter landlording". It was completely unrelaxing and I won't be doing it again, alas it seems the experience of the past is gone.