farmer_annie

I am planning a family (large, 10 to 13 people) vacation in Ireland. We have varied interest but common ones are music and outdoors. I think a self catering place would be perfect because we could use it as a base for travel or just hang out and absorb the atmosphere. I am worried though after hearing about scams where people rent a place in another country, pay, show up and the owners know nothing about it. Or that the place is nothing like its description. How do you check out the legitimacy? Some people recommend dealing directly with the owner to save money but how can you verify that they are indeed the owner? I would hate to drag my whole family over the ocean then have no place to stay. Plus I'm on a tight budget and I am paying for the whole shebang so I really can't afford any expensive surprises. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

janisj

"<i>I am worried though after hearing about scams where people rent a place in another country, pay, show up and the owners know nothing about it.</i>"

I can honestly say I have never heard of that happening in Ireland.

But if you are concerned - then just go through an agency, there are lots of good ones. Or even better use the official tourist board site for referrals.

http://www.discoverireland.com

Alec

Go through an official channel like Irish Tourist Board, whose site has an online booking service with quality guarantees.
http://www.discoverireland.ie/Accommodation.aspx
Beware that their booking service is usually run by Gulliver, owned by Fexco, inventor (they claim) of DCC, so your transaction is converted into your card's home currency by them at a disadvantageous rate. Contact them to reverse the transaction and put it through in euro.

ozgirl

We had a very positive experience with www.shamrock.cottages

farmer_annie

Thank you for your replies. The scams I heard about were in England and France. Ireland wasn't mentioned but you just never know. I will take the advice.

Tommartin59

Yes it does happen but there are very simple ways to prevent it from happening. The discoverireland.ie website is very poor with very few photos to give you an idea of what the places are like. The following is a list of long established Irish, English and US websites that ensure that the properties listed with them are reputable :

www.holidayhomeland.com
www.holiday-rentals.co.uk
www.holidaylettings.co.uk
www.ownersdirect.com


Only send money to a bank account. Get the details in an email (not by phone). In Ireland email correspondance is proof of a contract. Also ask to be put in contact with previous people who stayed at the cottage. Preferable ask for someone from your own country. Virtually all good property owners will be able to provide you with the contact details of someone from your own country within 3-4 days.

Scams are pretty rare in Ireland as the law is very quickly applied and the penalties are harsh. However it doesnt prevent you from having a bad experience. Ask many questions about the property and read all the details available on the sites. A property which is advertised on a couple of sites is more advisable that one that is only listed on one site.

Tommartin59

I forgot to say to drive a hard bargain. Today in Ireland it is possible to get 20-25% discounts off the listed price and yours is a big group so it should be possible to get very good value.

I would advise you to stay away from the tourist traps like Kilarney and see the real Ireland. Spend some time in a place like Garrykennedy in Co Tipperary. Very beautiful but unfortunately most tourists never make it there.

Cowboy1968

You got very good advice from Tommartin. I'd also suggest to use one of the well-established websites you find in his first posting. And Garrykennedy is a beautiful place - I was amazed that anyone else knew it

Tommartin59

We spent 2 weeks in Garrykennedy on our last holidays. Really is an amazing place. We had been meaning to do it for a while but it turned out to be better than we expected. We stayed at a unique cottage about 1 km from the village - see link below.

http://www.holidayhomeland.com/prope....php?id_item=1

Really old place but very well maintained. The lady at the house told us all of the best places to go in the area so we had some fantastic meals in some of the local restaurants. Also able to drop the kids off for some supervised sailing and windsurfing at a place run by the University of Limerick. The kids loved it .....

Almost every night we would inevitable end up in one of the two pubs in Garrykennedy ....and the craic and music...the adults loved it.

It really is a little bit of undiscovered Ireland - i dont know if we should keep it that way.

CasaDelCipresso

Honestly? as a vacation home owner, I think the best thing to do is just pick up the phone and call the owner! It's much easier to get a feel for someone on the phone than in email and it may calm your fears quite a bit.

sparky

I agree with the other poster that if in doubt pick up the phone & ring. Not all holiday homes are registered with discover ireland or the booking service they provide as a lot of owners have found their registration charges too high . You could try http://www.irishvacationrental.com
or http://www.sandycovebeach.com ( they have 2 houses next door to each other sleeping 6 in each) , we stayed there last year in September & it was lovely , beach just across the road.