Financial Protection

We, Crete Escapes Ltd, are a company registered in the UK having a tour operator’s insurance policy provided by Arnold Fisher Insurance Services Ltd.

We are an accommodation only provider working directly with private villa owners; as we do not sell package holidays we are not required by law to enter into any bonding scheme eg those offered by ABTA.

We fully understand any concerns you may have about the safety of monies you pay to us and for that reason we only ask you for a small deposit, ie 10% of the total rental (with the balance payable 6 weeks prior to your rental commencing). We do not commit large amounts of money "upfront" and therefore do not have any cash flow problems. The owner of the villa you're renting will be paid by us after we  receive your final balance payment.

As this Daily Telegraph writer pointed out in an article on Saturday September 20th 2008 - 

“There are plenty of travel arrangements that are not so inherently vulnerable to financial collapse. So if you are booking a hotel or an apartment or a hire car independently, there is less chance that these businesses will fail, and even if one did, it is unlikely to be as expensive or disastrous as losing your flights or a whole package of arrangements. Even so, booking these services by credit card will be sure to give you added protection”.

The Credit Card Guarantee scheme provides protection for monies you pay to us using a credit card; providing you pay at least £100 of the total rental costs on your credit card  then all monies paid to us in respect of the same rental are covered by the scheme. Please note that we do not charge any admin fees for deposits paid using a credit card so in the majority of cases your payments will be protected without incurring any extra charges.

You could also consider taking out holiday protection cover such as the policy offered by International Passenger Protection Ltd (IPP)

If you would like to discuss any of this with us then please don’t hesitate to call us on 01332 880413.

Janet Stimson,

Director, Crete Escapes Ltd. September 2008.