HOW TO SELECT AND RESERVE THE BEST VILLA FOR YOUR BALI HOLIDAY

In spite – or perhaps because of – the continuously increasing number of choices on the Internet, selecting and subsequently contracting the right villa for your Bali holiday is getting more difficult every day. Remember, this is YOUR vacation, and you cannot be too careful. The joy of saving a few dollars is nothing compared to memories of a spoiled vacation.

Some web sites advertise deceptively low rental rates to attract potential clients and then try to sell them something else afterwards. Some promise services they don't deliver or advertise villas which don't even exist. Others tell outright lies on their web pages. For instance:

"Villa rental is who we are, It's what we do, It's all we do." Right next to this claim is a box highlighting "Valuable Links" to a hotel site, a wedding site, and more hotel sites for Lombok and Singapore. All owned by the same company.

On the same page this company says: "(We are) a Bali based company. We live here, we know the people, ". When you check the background, the owner of the web site is a company in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. So be careful.

Here are some hints on how to protect yourself from false claims and/or unreliable companies so you can avoid possible disaster:

Always book through a reputable villa rental specialist or travel agent. If you deal directly with villa owners, they will always try to convince you their own villa is the best choice. They are hardly objective, of course, and their ideas regarding "quality" often don't meet international standards. On the other hand, every established villa rental specialist (good travel agents will not deal with any other) will know most of the available villas in his/her area and will only recommend those which really meet your individual requirements and expectations.

If you book directly with a villa rental company, always check how long the business has been established, and whether they accept all the major credit cards. If the company has been doing business for many years and works with all major credit card companies, you can be sure there have been no serious customer complaints. No credit card issuer would continue to do business with a company if card holders have repeatedly requested refunds because of problems they have experienced.

If you consider booking on the Internet, search the web site for detailed information on the company. Look for the place and date of incorporation, paid up capital, office address and telephone/fax numbers, names of the management and key staff, and the company history. You should find this on a "About Us" or "Corporate Page". For instance, see Balivillas.com/Bali.com Ltd Corporate Page.

Check whether the company and the owner of the domain you are visiting are identical. You can do this by going to the WHOIS database and key in the domain name (e.g. xcompany.com).

Check the company's Privacy Policy and whether it has been approved by TRUSTe. You can read the Privacy Statement by clicking the "Privacy" link on the company's web site. To verify the validity of the license click the TRUSTe icon on that page. If you cannot find any Privacy Statement with the TRUSTe icon it means no TRUSTe Approval Certificate has been obtained and the company does not take the privacy of its clients and/or web site visitors seriously.

Check the Site Security Certificate. You do this by clicking the VeriSign icon on the web site which will show you the validity of the Certificate. If you cannot find any VeriSign icon this probably means no security arrangements have been made. In this case be VERY careful submitting any personal data or other confidential information.

Check other credentials of the villa company e.g. membership in trade organizations such as the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA), and so on. To visit and search the ASTA web site click the icon below, select "All Business Types" from the pull-down menu and key in the company/website name (in our case Balivillas.com). To search the PATA members database you have to select the first letter of the company name and then scroll down the subsequent page.

If the company is registered with D&B, you can find even more details there. Most companies in international business nowadays have obtained a D-U-N-S number which is required by many global industry and trade associations, including the United Nations, the U.S. Federal Government, the Australian Government and the European Commission. (Balivillas.com/Bali.com Ltd's D&B D-U-N-S No. is 66-389-8141.)

Look for testimonials of recent guests. However, disregard them if they are shown without full name and address since there is no way to verify them. Balivillas.com only publishes testimonials with the full contact address of the contributor.

Make sure the villa rental company has a professionally staffed office at your destination to help with any problems which may arise during your stay. Only companies with an on-site office are in a position to monitor the maintenance of the villas and the performance of house staff, and be on call around the clock to help in emergencies.

Avoid booking through the growing number of villa rental web sites which list any villa without inspection as long as the owner pays a fee or commission. Advertisers can promise you ANYTHING – because the web site operators/owners have no liability whatsoever.

Balivillas.com has arranged the rental of private villas to thousands of visitors since 1992 and maintains its own Reservation & Service Center in Bali. The company is a member of ASTA (the American Association of Travel Agents) and PATA (the Pacific Area Travel Association), and Balivillas.com's practices and web site have been certified by TRUSTe and Verisign.

Balivillas.com offers only carefully selected private villas in different parts of the island. Prices range from about US$200 to over US$2,000 per day, and each villa represents excellent value in its own way.

Nearly all villas in our portfolio are managed and operated by Balivillas.com, have been specially improved at the company's expense, and the villa staff is employed by Balivillas.com. The company currently employs over 140 trained cooks, maids, houseboys, masseuses, gardeners, security guards, etc. and in case of local holidays or one of your staff gets sick you'll appreciate the back-up of a larger organisation.

Only because Balivillas.com is actually the operator of its villas and therefore does "hire, train & fire" all villa staff, Balivillas.com can guarantee a consistent high standard of service, and the company's long-tern management contracts make it possible to offer high-quality villas at low SUPER SAVER Rates as well as additional LAST MINUTE Savings. Low-quality houses and villas with unreliable staff (and there are many in Bali) are not accepted by Balivillas.com.

To read comments from recent guests please click here.

Although each villa is as different as its individual owner, all villas in Balivillas.com's portfolio offer clean and comfortable (often luxurious) accommodation, a beautiful tropical garden with your private swimming pool, and reliable, well-trained cooks, maids, house boys, etc. who take care of everything. The free use of an air-conditioned car with a reliable driver for up to 10 hours per day (consecutively) is included in all villa rentals and highly appreciated by guests.

Balivillas.com's villas range from cozy "hideaways" for two to large estates which can accommodate up to 18 adults (plus a few kids). These are serviced by sometimes more than 20 well-trained staff (including Italian-trained chefs, maids, house boys, laundresses, masseuses, gardeners, security staff, etc.) and offer all the facilities you'd expect at top resorts.

Some villas are located right on or near a beach. Others are surrounded by rice fields, and there are also a few villas in beautiful mountain settings near Ubud and in rural East Bali with easy access to popular dive sites.

This wide choice can be confusing – especially for first-time visitors – and it's sometimes difficult to select the right villa. So just let us know your personal needs and preferences that we can recommend those villas we feel will suit you best.

You should tell us a) how many people will be travelling with you, b) how many bedrooms you'll need, c) what special amenities you expect at your villa, and d) what kind of vacation you're planning (i.e. which activities are high on your list of priorities). It's also helpful to know the age of all the adults and children in your party, the price range you prefer, any special requirements you might have, roughly when you would like to visit Bali – and for how long.

Therefore, please complete and return our secure Villa Enquiry Form as early as you can to make sure you can get the villa which is best for you and your family. Villa reservations are sometimes made more than a year in advance, especially for holiday periods over Christmas/New Year, Easter, and Bali's peak season in July and August.

We'll check immediately which villas are available over the period you request and we'll send you by return e-mail our recommendations and the rental rates for those villas we feel are most suitable for your stay in Bali.

For any additional questions you might have, please don't hesitate to contact either Peter Rieger (in English or German), Ms. Endris Juliawati (in English, German or Indonesian) or any of our staff (in English or Indonesian) by fax (+62-361 701-577), telephone (+62-361 703-060), or by e-mail to bali@balivillas.com.

Villa Reservations are accepted on a "First Come – First Served" basis. Therefore, we recommend returning the completed Villa Inquiry Form right now to make sure you get the best villa for you and your family.

PRIVATE VILLAS YOU CAN RENT IN BALI

CLICK HERE to Let Us Know Your Requirements and Preferences.   Balivilas.com will recommend those villas which suit your personal requirements best. Since villas in Bali tend to be booked well in advance, please contact us as early as you can.

Click Here		Click Here