What a villa listing doesn't tell you

A luxury listing is designed to sell a property. The photographs are taken on the best day of the year, with wide-angle lenses and every cushion in place, and the description highlights everything the property does well. What it rarely mentions is everything else.

When we present a property to a client, we look beyond the listing. These are some of the details that are easy to miss.

How the bedrooms are counted

A ten-bedroom villa might include a bunk room, a converted study or two bedrooms in an annex across the garden. Some bedrooms may share a bathroom, and a "suite" may simply be a larger room. We look at each bedroom: its size, its bed configuration, its bathroom and where it sits in the house.

What "beachfront" really means

Beachfront, beach access and steps from the beach can describe very different things. One villa opens directly onto the sand. Another has a path down a cliff with two hundred steps, and another sits across a road from a public beach. For a family with young children or older guests, the difference shapes the whole stay.

How private it really is

A listing may describe a property as private when neighbouring villas overlook the pool, the beach is shared or a resort path runs past the garden. For clients who value discretion, we look at what can be seen from the property, and what can be seen of it.

What the photographs leave out

Photographs show a house at its best. They cannot show the plumbing, a damp corner with mould behind the wardrobe, air conditioning that struggles in the afternoon heat, a crack in the pool or a pool heater that stopped working last season. These are the issues that surface on the first day of a stay, and they are rarely in a listing.

Photographs can also be several years old, taken before a renovation or without the wear that has followed it. We look for recent photographs and confirm with the property or management company the condition of the house today, including when it was last maintained.

What you might hear

A busy road, a beach club with music in the evening, a construction site next door or a flight path overhead are rarely mentioned in a listing. They are often the first thing a guest notices.

What is included, and what is not

The rate on a listing is not always the cost of the stay. Food is often billed separately, staff hours may be limited, and there can be charges for heating the pool, for utilities, for additional staff or for a security deposit. Many properties also have minimum stays or fixed changeover days during the busiest weeks. We confirm what is included before a property is presented, so there are no surprises later.

Who is looking after the property, and how often it is used

Behind every listing is a management company or a team on the ground. How quickly they respond, how well they know the house and how they handle a request on a Sunday evening all shape the stay. It is one of the most important details, and one that never appears in the photographs.

It also matters how often the property is used. A house that welcomes guests regularly, with a team that maintains it week after week, is a house where the systems work and the staff know their routine. A house that has stood empty for months, where the doors are simply unlocked before arrival, can leave the guests as the trial run. We ask how often the property is let and when it last hosted guests.

Every property we present is properly vetted and sourced through trusted partnerships, and we take the time to ask the questions a listing does not answer. That way, the stay our clients arrive to is the stay they expected.

If you are considering a property and would like a second opinion, or would like us to present a selection for your dates, enquire and we will be in touch within 12 to 24 hours.

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