Renting accommodation in Phuket without intermediaries

One of the most popular searches regarding accommodation in Phuket is: ‘rent a villa in Phuket without intermediaries’ or ‘rent an apartment in Phuket without intermediaries’. Today, I decided to shed some light on this topic and share my 12 years of experience.

Are agents bad?

Of course, it’s cheaper to go directly. After all, agents are usually freelancers, agency employees, management companies or Airbnb, and they take their commission from the owner, which obviously increases the final price for guests. However, by focusing on the negative side, few people think about the benefits that agents bring. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the main types of intermediaries:

Freelancers (individuals without a company, employees, or office)

Cons:

• They do not own their own facilities and cannot influence their quality.
• They do not have access to operational information and are forced to refer questions to the service provider.
• They often do not know the actual condition of the facilities.
• They may add their own commission on top (+10-30%!).
• Cannot provide a replacement or refund in case of problems
• Try to sell as many additional services as possible to increase their commission
• Not motivated to help the client save money

Pros:

• Communication in a language you understand
• Personalised service
• Customer focus
• Attention to requests and support, at least until payment is made
• Lower commission than agencies

Rental agency (employees, office, legal company)

Cons:

• As a rule, they do not have their own properties or have few.
• They have access to information, but are forced to clarify requests with the supplier.
• They may add their commission on top of the price (+10-30%!).
• They try to sell as many additional services as possible to increase their commission.
• They are not motivated to help the customer save money.
• Slow response times during high season (overload).

Pros:

• Communication in a language you understand
• Focused on long-term cooperation
• Personalised and professional service
• Able to solve problems when they arise
• Can help you move in emergency situations
• Accompany you at all stages
• Provide additional, often free services and advice
• Check documents and even draw them up themselves if necessary

Management company (service provider)

Cons:

• Lack of personalised service during the booking process
• Standardised and somewhat impersonal service
• Each individual guest is one of hundreds of customers, not the most valued in the world
• Bureaucracy
• Response times slow down during peak season

Pros:

• Communication and technological capabilities, standards
• Wide selection
• Pool of properties within which guests can be relocated in case of problems
• Almost any problem is solved quickly
• Upgrades are possible (especially in low season)
• Additional services are provided

OTA (Booking, Airbnb, Agoda, etc.)

Cons:

• High commissions and, accordingly, prices (+15-20%)
• Corporate, refined service
• They do not have real information about the property and its condition
• They have their own rules, which are often unfair and greatly influence their decisions

Pros:

• Quickly resolve issues when they arise
• Can refund money (not in all cases, but in many)
• Provide some protection against unlawful actions by suppliers/owners

Direct owners (no intermediaries, registration or SMS)

I believe that in Phuket, direct property owners are not an option for rentals from 3 nights to 6 months. Firstly, renting property from them may not be comfortable, and secondly, it will be extremely difficult to find their contact details. It is uncomfortable because private owners are not professional managers and may take a long time to respond, fail to resolve issues, cancel your booking or even leave and forget about you altogether. This has happened before. However, they are likely to offer the lowest price on the market. But if you have any complaints or problems, you will have to resolve them yourself.

Inaccessibility of direct owners

The owners of 95% of real estate in Phuket do not live in Thailand. And the 5% who do live there are 90% unlikely to be involved in renting out their properties themselves and have entrusted this task to someone else.

This is because it is a lot of hard work for very little money. Please take my word for it as the owner of a management company.

I am not saying that this is the case with every direct owner. Of course, there are decent and even professional owners, but overall, the percentage of professional owners who provide quality service is extremely low. So low, in fact, that the likelihood of a regular tourist looking for holiday accommodation coming across them is close to zero.

Conclusion:

The purpose of this text was to provide an understanding of what direct rental in Phuket is, who the intermediaries in Phuket are, and what function they perform.

It is often difficult to determine who you are dealing with, as freelancers and agents say ‘our properties,’ even though they may not have been anywhere near them. The question of how to determine whether you are really dealing with a service provider or just an intermediary deserves a separate text.

My opinion is that intermediaries, if they do their job well, bring significantly more benefit than harm for their commission. And for you, as the end user, this is the price you pay for quality service and peace of mind. Think of it (the commission) as an included service and try to focus on enjoying a comfortable and high-quality holiday.

After all, all of us (employees in the rental industry in Phuket) have set up our companies for this very purpose. Sabai Sabai

Yours sincerely,
Sergey Shalyapin
Founder of Holy Cow Phuket