Debbie’s Villas vs Airbnb and Vrbo: Why Who You Book Your Orlando Villa With Matters

Debbie’s Villas vs Airbnb and Vrbo: Why Who You Book Your Orlando Villa With Matters

When searching for an Orlando villa holiday, it is easy to concentrate on the villa itself. How many bedrooms does it have? Does it have a private pool? Is there a games room? How close is it to Disney World? And, of course, how much does it cost?

Websites such as Airbnb and Vrbo give holidaymakers access to thousands of properties, including a huge choice of Orlando villas.

But there is another question we think is just as important:

What happens if something goes wrong?

Not a missing mug or a light bulb that needs replacing, but something significant that means you can no longer stay in the villa you booked.

Who finds you somewhere else to stay?

This is one of the biggest differences between booking an Orlando villa through an online marketplace and booking with Debbie's Villas.

If your villa becomes unavailable before you travel, we help to find a replacement

There can be a significant time between booking an Orlando villa and arriving in Florida, sometimes up to 2 years, and occasionally circumstances change.

There are many reasons why your original choice villa might become unavailable, for example:

A villa might be sold and withdrawn from holiday rentals.

An owner could decide to stop renting. There could be serious maintenance problems, storm damage or another unexpected event

An owner may subsequently realise they have double-booked the property

If you have booked a particular property through Airbnb or Vrbo and that booking cannot go ahead, you may need to arrange a refund or credit and then find alternative accommodation yourself, depending on the circumstances and the platform's applicable policies.

That could mean starting your Orlando villa search all over again.

The problem is that you might have originally booked many months ago when there was plenty of availability. If you are suddenly looking for a replacement just a few weeks before departure, the choice could be much smaller.

And the villas that remain available could be more expensive.

With Debbie's Villas, you have an experienced team ready to help. Situations like this are prioritised which means as soon as we receive news of a problem, it is dealt with as quickly as possible.

We offer more than 1,000 Orlando villas and have established relationships with villa owners and management companies throughout the area. If the villa you booked becomes unavailable, we will work to find a suitable replacement for you.

We look at what attracted you to your original villa – its location, number of bedrooms, private pool, spa, games room, themed bedrooms, resort facilities and other important features – and will work extremely hard to find a replacement that matches your requirements - at no extra cost to you.

Instead of potentially waiting for your money to be returned and then starting again, Debbie's Villas works on finding the solution.

What if something serious happens while you're actually in Orlando?

This is perhaps an even more important difference.

Imagine that you are halfway through your 2-week Orlando holiday and something happens that means you can no longer stay in your villa.

Perhaps there is a major air-conditioning failure that cannot be repaired quickly. There could be a significant plumbing problem, storm damage or another serious issue that makes the home unsuitable to occupy.

If you have booked a single property through an online marketplace such as Airbnb or Vrbo, you may find yourself having to search for alternative accommodation for the remainder of your holiday, subject to whatever assistance and rebooking options the platform makes available in your particular circumstances.

That can be stressful at any time.

It is considerably more difficult when you are already in Florida with your family and perhaps young children – and need somewhere suitable to stay that same day.

This is where booking with Debbie's Villas can make a real difference.

If a serious problem means you need to leave your villa, we don't simply tell you to find somewhere else.

We step in and find you a replacement Orlando villa of your choice, for the remainder of your holiday, at no extra cost.

Because we work with a large number of villa owners and management companies throughout the Orlando area, we can contact our local partners, check what is available and work to find another suitable home.

Instead of sitting by the pool searching accommodation websites and trying to work out where your family is going to sleep that night, you have Debbie's Villas working on the problem for you.

That's an important distinction.

For everyday problems, you have support too

Thankfully, situations requiring customers to move villas are unusual.

Most problems that occur during an Orlando villa holiday are far less serious.

An appliance might stop working. The pool heater might develop a fault. There could be a problem with the air conditioning or a plumbing issue.

Every villa has a local management company that is there to help with problems at the property.

But you also have Debbie's Villas.

If you have reported something and don't feel it is being dealt with appropriately, contact us. We can speak to the management company, follow up on the issue and help get things moving.

You aren't left trying to resolve everything yourself from thousands of miles away from home.

We visit and inspect the Orlando villas we advertise

Our involvement starts long before you arrive in Florida.

Before an Orlando villa is advertised on the Debbie's Villas website, it is visited and inspected by a member of our team.

We want to know what we are offering our customers rather than relying solely on photographs and descriptions supplied by an owner.

We look at the villa, its bedrooms, facilities, pool area and general condition, and properties are revisited as part of our ongoing inspection programme.

It also gives our team first-hand knowledge of villas and communities throughout Kissimmee, Davenport, Clermont, Haines City and the surrounding Orlando area.

Real people to speak to

An Orlando holiday can involve much more than booking accommodation.

There are flights, car hire, attraction tickets and all the smaller questions that inevitably arise before travelling thousands of miles with your family.

Our UK team is available before you travel, and you also have support while you are in Florida.

Customer service is easy when everything goes perfectly.

We think the real test is what happens when it doesn't.

When your flight changes, what happens to everything else?

This has become particularly relevant recently, with airlines making changes to flight times and, in some cases, arrival airports.

A significant flight change can have a knock-on effect to the rest of your Orlando holiday.

If your arrival airport changes, what happens to your car hire?

If your flight moves to another day, what happens to your villa?

If your arrival time changes significantly, does anything else need to be rearranged?

When flights, car hire and accommodation have all been booked independently with different companies, you may have to contact each supplier yourself and work out what needs changing.

When you have booked several elements of your Orlando holiday through Debbie's Villas, our team can look at the arrangements you have booked with us as a whole.

We can identify the knock-on effects and help make the necessary changes rather than leaving you to work through each booking separately.

The reassurance of booking with an ABTA Member

Debbie's Villas is an ABTA Member, number Y5238.

ABTA Members are required to follow the ABTA Code of Conduct, which sets standards covering areas including accurate information, fair trading, customer service and the handling of complaints.

It means that when you book your Orlando holiday with Debbie's Villas, you are dealing with a UK travel company that has agreed to operate according to ABTA's standards.

Additional protection when booking an Orlando package holiday

There can also be important legal and financial protections when you book more than one element of your Orlando holiday with us.

Depending on what you book and how the arrangements are made, combining different travel services – such as your Orlando villa with flights or car hire – may create a package under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.

Package holidays provide additional legal rights, including responsibility on the package organiser for the proper performance of the travel services included in the package.

Qualifying packages also have appropriate financial protection. Flight-inclusive packages are generally protected through the ATOL scheme, while applicable non-flight packages have the appropriate financial protection arrangements.

We will explain the protection that applies to the holiday arrangements you book with us.

Don't just compare the villa – compare what happens if something goes wrong

Airbnb and Vrbo provide an enormous choice of holiday accommodation and are successfully used by millions of travellers.

But when comparing an Orlando villa advertised on one of these platforms with a villa from Debbie's Villas, we think it is worth looking beyond the photographs and price.

Ask yourself:

What happens if my villa becomes unavailable before I travel?

Who finds me another villa if I have to move halfway through my holiday?

Who contacts the management company if a serious problem isn't being resolved?

Who helps with the knock-on effects if my airline changes my flights?

These questions might not seem particularly important when you're excitedly choosing your villa and planning your days at Disney World and the other Orlando attractions.

But if something unexpected happens, the answers can suddenly become very important.

You're not just booking a villa – you're booking a team behind it

Debbie's Villas has specialised in Orlando villa holidays since 1999, and today we offer more than 1,000 individually selected villas across the most popular areas surrounding Disney World.

But our role isn't simply to help you find a villa.

We inspect the homes we advertise.

We're here to answer your questions before you travel.

We work with local management companies while you're in Orlando.

If a problem isn't being resolved, we can step in.

If your original villa becomes unavailable before departure, we help find a replacement.

And if something serious happens while you are in Florida and you need to leave your villa, we can work to find another home for you for the remainder of your holiday.

Hopefully, you'll never need us to do any of those things.

But when deciding who to trust with your Orlando villa holiday, it is reassuring to know what would happen if you did.

Because you're not just choosing an Orlando villa. You're choosing who will be standing behind your booking if something goes wrong.