Have been surfing websites looking for holiday homes abroad to rent, asking for info on numerous homes advertised on supposedly reputable sites such as 'owners direct', 'holidaylettings', 'homelidays', and 'home and away holiday rentals', only to find that in many cases I was told that the property I had enquired about was fully booked but that other properties were still available, with said properties then listed.
Despite putting the dates I wanted to rent the property for at the beginning of each search, this happened time and again, even after a considerable amount of time had passed, and one reviewer of a property advertised stated that such advertisers use a 'hook and bait' tactic, leaving properties that are fully booked on such sites so that those enquiring will then look at other properties on the advertisers books.
The reviewer even stated that he had booked a certain property over the net from a reputable site then turned up to be met by a holiday home agent who promptly took him to a different property.
In actual fact we cannot now travel abroad this year due to unexpected financial difficulties but am wondering if it is perhaps better to book a package deal in this case, and would just like to warn users of such supposedly reputable sites of this activity.