Customers’ fury as holiday rental company Owners Direct adds £249 ‘hidden fee’ onto bills following takeover
Company defends extra charge saying it needed to 'stay competitive' but property owners accuse them of ‘pure greed’ as they already pay advertising fee
FURIOUS customers have taken to the internet to vent their anger at one of Britain’s largest online holiday rental firms.
Owners Direct have been accused of implementing a ‘hidden’ £249 charge on holidaymakers that property owners claim has led to a huge slump in bookings.
Visitors interested in renting a property for their holiday must navigate two pop-up boxes for a costs breakdown which reveals the charge – although it is included in the advertised price.
The company says that the “service fee” is needed to “stay competitive” but outraged property owners have accused the firm of “pure greed” as they already pay a £249 fee to advertise their holiday homes on the website.
Writing on the review site , a property owner called Simon Kelly posted a comment titled ‘Money grab’ and said: “[They] added a huge fee to guests booking, which I assume they want us to absorb, but I'll just go elsewhere.
“We also had a fraudulent credit card booking via their booking system and they said we would foot the bill. Ridiculous since they are responsible for doing correct authorizations and checks.”
The website averages a score of 0.4 out of 10 on the Trustpilot website from over 600 customer reviews.
The additional charge follows the buyout last year of Owners Direct’s parent company, Texas-based HomeAway, by Expedia.
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A number of owners have criticised the new ownership including Chris McClune who wrote: “[They are] now ripping off both the owners and clients with their additional fees. I have been an advertiser for over 10 years on the site, but will not be renewing.
“It used to be what it said, i.e. dealing directly with the owner at a good advertising rate. The new owners of the site have now interfered with every aspect of the advertising, and increased prices.
“The final straw is the admin fee that they now charge clients to book, it's absolutely appalling, and bookings have fallen off. I have already unticked auto renew and will be going elsewhere next year.
“The corporate argument that the extra fees paid by people booking allow better investment is rubbish. The website and bookings were fine before!”
Disgruntled property owner Roger Maher wrote: “Since we pay a considerable amount of money to advertise our properties on the website it would appear to be pure greed that has driven this service fee.
“Over the last three months our enquiries and bookings through Owners Direct have dropped through the floor and damaged our business. Not only is there the greed of the 'service fees' but they are also trying to get extra commissions off books for deposit protection.
“It is our belief that all of these fees make bookings so expensive that people do not book.”
Speaking to , an Owners Direct spokeswoman said: “The service fee is displayed in appropriate prominence and we do not have any records of any confusion with travellers in relation to this fee.
“It was implemented to enable us to stay competitive. As competition continues to increase, Owners Direct must increase investment to ensure we bring travellers to the website and therefore drive more bookings to owners’ properties.”
The Sun has also contacted Owners Direct for comment.
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