The saying that the early bird gets the worm is extremely relevant in the case of planning a family holiday, although in this case the saying should be that the family who books early gets the best and widest choice of holiday apartments. Holiday rental apartments are very popular and get booked up well in advance. You should book at least a couple of months in advance of your trip to make sure that you get your first choice of apartment at the best possible price. If you’re planning to stay in a holiday rental during the summer holidays make sure you have booked somewhere by March.

When booking holiday rentals, there are a few potential pitfalls to watch out for. You need to be particularly careful when booking online that the person or agency that you are dealing with is trustworthy. The best advice (maybe obviously so!) is to always book holiday rentals through a well-established agency (such as Holiday Velvet!) rather than booking directly with the owner. An agency is more likely to be reliable than a private individual, and you can find peace of mind by reading reviews of the agency that have been left by their other customers. Agencies usually have policies in place to deal with situations where something has gone wrong, such as the apartment unexpectedly becoming unavailable during the time you are supposed to stay there, so you can rest assured that your vacation will go without a hitch if you book your holiday rental through a reputable agency.

The problem of booking holiday rentals a long time in advance is that unforeseen circumstances may force you to change your plans. You should always find out what the cancellation policy is before you complete the booking. Would you be able to claim back any money if you were forced to cancel your trip? You may also want to take out a travel insurance policy at the time of booking your accommodation, which would offer further protection for you in the case of cancellation. At Holiday Velvet, after making a booking, we offer you the possibility to book a travel insurance for holiday rentals at very competitive prices.

Holiday rental agencies usually make their cancellation policy available on their website, so that you can be clear about what will happen if you need to cancel or rearrange your booking. If you do have to change your travel dates, contact the agency to find out whether they can help you; it might be possible for you to stay in your chosen holiday apartment or a similar apartment on different dates to those that you originally booked.