Interhome Arvostelua 

We had an awful experience with Interhome during a recent Airbnb stay in Italy. The key-holders of the listing fundamentally misunderstood how Airbnb works, demanding ID verification upon arrival and requesting a €400 security deposit (this was not explicitly mentioned beforehand). These people were not specified by the Airbnb listing, and were not the hosts. Even though they may have owned the property, this was rather disconcerting. Another concern involved a previously unspecified extra charge for internet usage, when exceeding 4GB during our stay. This was only specified verbally and (again, suspiciously) had to be a cash payment. Another breach of Airbnb's terms of service.

None of these things are necessary and certainly should not be required outside of the app. This triggered an exhausting, tedious series of exchanges with the hosts who (suspiciously) made no contact through the Airbnb app, and would not request the deposit through Airbnb. This is something that I repeatedly clarified - we would be happy to comply only if such payment was requested through the app. This is clearly stated on Airbnb's terms of service, that 'to protect your payment, never transfer money or communicate outside of the Airbnb website or app'. We opened a case with Airbnb's customer service, who closed it in our favour. Unfortunately, this resolution was only reached on the last day of our holiday. It caused a lot of unnecessary stress and severely compromised the quality of our stay. The key-holders were defensive when we checked out, maintaining that ID was required for local police as we could have been 'terrorists'.

The current practice of using Airbnb 'through' Interhome puts customers at risk; if we had acquiesced (as I am sure many others do) and paid the cash deposit, there would have been no way to retrieve this and we would have been extremely vulnerable.

During a phone-call with a representative from Interhome, I was told that their listings qualified for some sort of exception to Airbnb's rules. This is highly dubious - particularly because the case I opened with Airbnb was closed in our favour.

An urgent review of Interhome's practice via Airbnb is needed. As a consumer, make sure you are not being pressured into making any payment outside the app and that all communication is made through the app, as Airbnb specify in their terms. Your booking is made with Airbnb, NOT Interhome. As such, you should only comply with the terms specified by Airbnb and not 'rules' that are written into the listing description by the hosts.

Booking as ever very easy and when you call the staff are helpful and knowledgeable

We booked with Interhome for our family holiday in April 2022 and didn’t hesitate to book again for 2023! Fantastic service, friendly and professional staff who couldn’t do enough to ensure our holiday was what we expected. We had a couple of issues with the accommodation on arrival, nothing they could have predicated and these were resolved straight away outside of office hours. The team were fantastic!

Interhome have been consistently helpful through the Covid pandemic. They have allowed us, without fuss, to change our booking 3 times.
Would definitely recommend them.

in August 2021 I booked a 2 week stay in self catering in Carnac for July 2022. My booking was accepted and deposit paid via credit card. 4 weeks ago I enquired as to the amount and timing of the balance. They told me it would be taken on 20th May. Next few days I received 2 messages from booking.com to say that my credit card had been declined. Well in advance of the date on which it should have been taken. I finally amended my card to my debit card and the balance was taken in full the following day. I then received a receipt / invoice and a confirmation of booking by email. The following day I received an email to say that my booking had been cancelled. I rang Interhome (who were responsible for taking the payments) immediately and after a long wait I was informed that their finance department had advised them that they could not accept my payment (which they had already taken). After further communication they gave me the excuse that it was because there had been an increase in the number of fraudulent payments. The customer service of both Interhome and Booking.com were absolutely useless. I felt like a criminal. I booked with Interhome in 2019 again for Carnac with absolutely no problem. Needless to say I will never book with Interhome again. Bad lesson learned the hard way

I wanted to book two weeks vacation in September at two different locations. The first location could not be booked directly on-line and I telephoned your support office and spoke to Francesca. She dealt with my request very efficiently and over the next few days arranged my bookings. She provided a very good service and deserves my praise.

Rezervare rapida, confirmarea primita imediat pe email. Apartamentul inchiriat foarte bine amplasat, foarte spatios si la un pret excelent. Abia asteptam sa calatorim. Multumim frumos pentru promtitudine si seriozitate!

Always a good booking experience with interhome and good choice of villas

I suspect they made up all the good reviews. Most terrible experience! Horrible home management company SCAMMING on deposits! Where should I start? Their price is expensive for one week’s stay, but their service is the opposite.

First, they asked us to collect the key somewhere which is 3 hours walk from the accommodation. When I rejected, the woman Anastasiia from Interhome company said I’m free to cancel the booking with 100% cancellation fee. Wow, what a nice response!

Then, when we first arrived, the host and Interhome company immediately required us to pay EUR 400 cash as deposit, which this additional fee is not found in the listing. This is also very odd they requested it outside of Airbnb, and specifically required CASH, which customers are not protected in anyway. We negotiated to pay via Paypal , but they refused! Soon, they called more people from Interhome company and 6 strangers arrived to the villa, whom all demanded us to pay cash immediately, otherwise we can’t stay there. At this point, I didn’t feel like a guest anymore but a criminal. One man who doesn’t understand English was so mad he even rudely pulled all our luggages out, kicked our bags and asked us to ‘GO! GO. YOU NO WELCOME!’ We paid given that, but it’s an extremely bad experience and mood killing especially it happened on the first day! The female host and management company made everything non negotiable, and never treated customers as guests.

Third, this company prepared and required us to sign a document with our ID photographed on first day, ‘agreeing’ that they can kick us out ANYTIME during the stay but not returning the booking fees if they deem us disruptive. They made everything difficult and made us very uncomfortable.

Last and most important part, on the last day, it’s a HUGE difficulty and headache getting back our deposit. They knew we had a flight to catch, but when host’s niece came to check the place, he spent 30 mins on the phone discussing with the host about it. Then, the host pretended to ‘wire’ the money through the bank and gave us a screenshot, however I’m still awaiting to receive EUR 400 as of today!! It’s been a few days which normally is done same day. So it means the host has either reverted the transfer or it’s a scam! I’ve now asked help from Airbnb for the money back but what shocked me is: Interhome requested another 400 EUR for ‘extra service’ after seeing us requesting back the deposit!!!!! Seems like Interhome is really broke and tried to brag and cheat with monies anywhere possible. We shall involve all parties possible to have our deposit returned.

In overall, booking with Interhome is the worst decision I’ve made this year. First, you won’t expect to feel like a ‘guest’ staying with them, but like a criminal who is being told off and controlled. If you don’t agree on any rule they set, they wouldn’t communicate but call more people, and never leave you alone until you’re forced to obey. Also, you DO NOT expect to get back any of your deposit! The whole experience is a joke. If you don’t want to be watched, always controlled by the host and have your deposit SCAMMED, then 120% NOT RECOMMENDED.

Easy booking with a good description of properties

Very quick to reply to my emails and very help answering all my queries.

Interhome is a company that we have travelled with and trusted for many years. A totally professional and ever helpful customer service team on the end of the phone and charming informative representatives in holiday destinations. Always enjoyed great holidays.

As always, its easy to book, and communicate with Interhome

Great flat near ski slopes. Clear instructions to collect keys out of hours. Really helpful team.

Well laid out website, clear photos and descriptions.

Accurate locations.

Easy to complete booking request and complete payments options, very information information pack received within minutes of completing booking.

Booking site easy to negotiate.
Great to be able to speak to someone personally if there are queries.
A long established company who we have used for many years

I made a booking on the Interhome site today. I found the the booking instructions easy to follow and completed my task very quickly. I hope the house is as good!!

Easy to make a booking, have used before and will use again, have a good selection of properties to chose from.

We have booked a property with Interhome for our trip to Spain in 2 weeks. As it happens, my parents have recently arrived in Estapona and went to track down our apartment. It turns out that it is directly above a bar! There is no mention in the description and the photos do not indicate this either. It has taken me several messages to get the company to even admit that the apartment is above a bar. They just wouldn’t answer the question. Finally, they did admit it and now they won’t let us transfer to another property. We are happy to pay an increased price. Customer service is appalling and I will not be recommending them to anyone.

Update

So much for the 'support' Interhome refused the refund, when requested from Booking.com.