Hogares Dénia S.L. avoid at all costs very unprofessional

Hogares Denia SL refused to return a deposit, for no reason. I suggest you avoid them at all costs.

Unprofessional 

Tripadvisor a conflict of interest

According to wikipedia Tripadvisor is :-

TripAdvisor.com is a travel website providing directory information and reviews of travel-related content. 

But apparently not any longer, since Tripadvisor started to offer a free Holiday Letting listing and booking service, for hotels, apartments and villas, they have clearly encountered a serious conflict of interest, as it is taking its toll on their traditional review based business.

They now are refusing to publish genuine bad reviews on any properties they are taking a commission on, i.e. every property they list that attracts a booking.

I have heard in the past few weeks, numerous real examples of where Tripadvisor are simply ignoring established ¨reviewers¨, if the content is not complimentary to the property to are listing.

One such example was the dreadful Denia based Quality Rent Villas S.L. and their awful property Pinares Vicente Bajo, Las Sella, Denia, Spain.

We all knew that a large number of these ¨reviews¨were probably malicious and created by competitors, but this is a new twist.

Basically forget Tripadvisor altogether when it comes to reliable unbiased reviews...

Go elsewhere.




Follow me on twitter @uxiaolsson

Useful information on Parking in Spain and the Grua tow truck

 

Some useful tips on parking in #Spain.

It is a general rule that you may not park in Spain when the pavement curb is painted yellow or where a no parking sign is displayed. In major cities and now even the villages, non-metered on-street parking is difficult to find but in some areas, there are parking spaces marked in blue for which you should purchase a ticket from a nearby machine on the pavement usually topped with a blue and white “P” sign, or from an attendant. These spaces usually have a maximum stay of two hours. Penalties for #parking infringements differ from town to town and can be substanial. On the #CostadelSol and #CostaBlanca parking #fines for over staying in a blue bay is start at 3 Euros, and can reach more than €60, if you leave the car unattended for a longer period.

spanish parking meter

Typical Spanish Public Parking Meter Murcia

If you park illegally, you will almost certainly become a victim of the ‘grua’ – the local tow truck, and if you suffer this, there should be a sticker left on the curb with the phone number/address of your car’s new location. Getting your car back is a hassle and could cost you dearly in fines and fees, especially if you do not speak Spanish.

Where possible, look for underground parking with a security attendant. It is worth paying the little extra. Collecting your car from the #grua is no fun. You have to go to the compound to pay the recovery fee. You then have to go to the police station and pay the fine. Then you return to the compound with your receipts and get your car back.

Remember any parking or speeding fines you collect, whether you are aware or not, will be charged back to your credit card by the #rental #car company, long after you have returned the car.

Direct Flights from Alicante twice a week on Ryan Air to Kerry Ireland

Kerry Airport

Ryan Air now offer twice a week direct flights from Alicante to Kerry. Departing on a Wednesday and Saturday. The flight time is 2.5 hours. Tipoa Car Hire offer rental car services at Kerry Airport and nearby Killareny town centre.

Kerry Airport is a very small "cute" international & domestic airport, with direct flights to Portugal, UK & Spain.

It takes only minutes to travel through the airport, including the security process. On arrival simply walk out of the doors, and take a right and continue walking just meters to the Long Term Car Park where the car hire companies are located. 

A short walk to the long term car park

The opening hours are 08:00-21:00 hrs Monday to Fridays, and 08:00-18:00hrs at weekends. However it is possible to collect and drop-off outside of these hours.

If you allow yourself 30 mins from your scheduled arrival time to walk to the desk, complete the paperwork and soon you will be on your way.

Killarney and Limerick

Kerry Airport is conveniently located for the  #Killarney National Park, Kerry, Cork and Limerick.

I recommend the 5* #Aghadoe Heights Hotel and Spa, at Killarney Lake

Ross Castle, Killarney

Ross Castle at Killarney is well worth a visit. The last property Cromwell laid siege to in Ireland.


There is a small old fashioned petrol station located less than a kilometer from Kerry Airport, should you need to top up with fuel when you return your hire car.

sheehan's shop and petrol station

Nearby attractions to Kerry Airport are:-

Mor Active

Knockreer Estate

Presentation Convent

St. Mary's Cathedral

Killarney Falconry

Innisfallen Island

Cloghmochuda

The most amazing road in the world

Follow in the footsteps of the Top Gear team, and travel the Transfagarasanul in Romania. Hire a 4x4 or sporty car from Tipoa Car Hire from either of the two Bucharest airports Baneasa Airport or Otopeni Airport and head North West for 85 miles / 137 km

The Transfagarasan road starts in Bascov, Romania, a village near the town Pitesti.

The road was built between 1970-1974 by Nicolae Ceausescu, he wanted to provide a strategic road over the mountains.

Building the road over the Transfagarasan in Romania required considerable material efforts, and came at a large human cost as many soldiers lost their lives. 

This romanian mountain road (or national road 7 C) is one of the most spectacular and challenging roads in the world to drive, it rises to a height of 3013 meter.

The maximum speed you can achieve on Transagarasan is 40 km/h (25 miles/h).

The road is closed between October until June because of snow.

If you make the trip to Romania, to drive the Transfaragarsan you should also visit the Vidraru Lake, this reservoir created by the dam in 1966.

The fresh air from there, and the silence is inspirational.

The Transfagarasan at 2034 meters, and is the second highest road in Romania. The highest being the Transalpina, with 2145 meters.

Zero Excess Car Hire Insurance does not mean no deposit

When renting a car, many people confuse Zero Excess Insurance and it's effect on the Security Deposit.

This is understandable given that the rental car industry, do their best to confuse two seperate elements when renting a car, by linking them together.

It is common now for online car hire brokers such as Tipoa, to team up with a third party insurance company.

Tipoa work with Allianz and offer the Allianz Global Assistance as an optional extra. (details below)

However whilst this is a very sensible extra to include in your rental car reservation, it does not avoid, the car supplier on arrival, authorising your credit card for the security deposit, which happens to be normally based upon the amount of excess you have.

Therefore people understandably think that by purchasing the "zero excess insurance" they will not have to pay (have held against your card) the security deposit. This is not the case.

Zero Excess Insurance Tipoa Car Hire

ALLIANZ GLOBAL ASSISTANCE

Excess Cover Insurance:

Vehicle Hire Excess & Security Deposit protection Insurance

Avoid ALL Excess Charges for just EUR 6.74 a day! Allianz Excess Insurance gives you complete peace of mind. Most companies charge an Excess, if you have a claim - typically you pay the first EUR 1,000

Our Policy covers:

• Excess up to EUR 3000.00

• Windows

• Tyres

• Undercarriage

• Roof

• Rental car key cover up to EUR 550.00

• Personal Possessions up to EUR 300.00

Allianz Global Assistance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA)

A link to the typical terms and conditions of the Allianz Global Assistance policy, in this example for the UK:- https://www.magroup-online.com/CTW/IE/EN/CTW_IE_en_TCs.html

SECURITY DEPOSIT

Each car supplier will "hold" a deposit on the drivers credit card, as a security deposit. Although this does not directly relate to insurance, the deposit amount is often based upon the Insurance Excess amount. For example if the insurance excess amount is 300 EURO then the security deposit will be that figure/sum. 

You can view each car's excess amount and terms and conditions by clicking on the link entitled " rate details " displayed to the right of each car photo at STEP2 of the tipoa.com online booking process.

If you reduce the excess insurance to zero then it WILL NOT mean that you will not have a security deposit to pay, but the security deposit amount may be reduced as a result.

Each supplier will put a "hold" on the credit card for the security deposit amount, for the duration of the hire, and this "hold" will be released when the car is returned and assuming there are no losses or damages.

You should ensure that you have enough "credit" on your card to enable the security deposit pre-authorisation to to take place successfully.

There is an increase of incidences where hire cars are never returned, and the security deposit assists the car supplier to establish the identity of the hirer, whereas a debit card or cash do not.

Goldcar Check-in Online new service

Rental car supplier Goldcar are now offering the option of advance Checking-in On-line when booking at the Tipoa Car Hire website.

We assume that the extremely long queues experienced at the Goldcar desks in the Spanish Airports this year in particular, prompted them to create this new service.

Tipoa welcomes any innovations that may save its customers time.

But it is unclear to us how precisely this saves our clients time and, more importantly, avoids long queues.

Strangely, Goldcar themselves seem unable to explain how using their new online check in facility saves the customer time.

Of course, entering your identity document, driving license, credit card details in advance saves Goldcar staff time from having to 

manually enter this information in the system at the desk when you arrive.

However, it is our understanding that these documents still have to be produced at the counter.

Goldcar already operate an "Express Service" so unless completing the new online check-in forms allows you to use their "Express Service", we do not see its benefits.

If you have already used this new Goldcar service, perhaps you would be kind enough to share your thoughts with us.

You can either email our travel writer Uxía Olsson at uxiaolsson@gmail.com personally, or share your experiences on our Travel Blog so that other travellers can benefit from

your comments.

Did you really save time?, were you asked to show the same documentation again?, would you recommend it to others?