Chauffeur-driven Porsches, private cinemas, wireless internet access, chefs,
maids, helicopter transfers, private beaches, high-tech gyms... British
holidaymakers are developing expensive tastes when it comes to booking a
villa. But you don’t have to remortgage your house to have a stylish villa
break.
Yes, we know £13,000 a night is beyond the budget of most people who don’t
play Premier League football. We’ve even heard stories of super-rich
customers sending scouts ahead of visits to check pool temperatures are just
so. Others have asked for personalised reports on local golf courses - with
details on which are the trickiest holes. But there also are a lot of good
deals around, from £135 a week to stay in a plush pad in Cyprus - good value
by anyone’s standards.
Here we reveal the trends in villa holidays for 2007.
Dream designs
Chintzy furnishings and rural charm are out. Private World Villas has launched
20 “rad pads” — radically designed villas in Australia, the US, Brazil,
Mexico, Ibiza and Portugal. Instead of buying places abroad, the wealthy
villa-lover is choosing trendy “Wallpaper magazine style” properties, the
company says. In Palm Springs, a Modernist pad designed by John Lautner is
on offer. In Ibiza, you can stay in a villa by the French interior designer
Bruno Reymond, or try Pierre Louis Faloci’s chic hideaway in the Algarve.
Details: 020-7723 5599, www.privateworldvillas.com
Cheap and chic
It’s not just the top end of the villa market that’s getting more design
conscious. Meon Villas says holidaymakers are demanding “hi-tech,
minimalist, style-led houses”. One example is Aquamarine, which overlooks
the sandy bay of Pomos in Cyprus — which costs from £810 a week or just
£135pp when six share. There’s a hot-tub, gym, an infinity pool and a clean,
modern look throughout.
Details: 0870 8508551, www.meonvillas.co.uk
Lakeside view
To Tuscany is offering stays at Villa L’Orcio di Bardeggiano, which sleeps six
and comes with its own “bio-pool” — a man-made private lake that is cleaned
using rock filtration, not chemicals. It’s hardly natural, but it does a
very good impression. The villa, a 15-minute drive from Siena, offers
massage, yoga and Italian cookery lessons. From £525 a week.
Details: 020-7193 7782, www.to-tuscany.com
Good morning Vietnam
The villa holiday no longer belongs to the Med. Evason Resorts is flagging up
its latest long-haul villa for 2007: the Evason Ana Mandara Villas & Spa
at Dalat, Vietnam. This has 17 restored French colonial villas dating from
the 1920s and 1930s. Each has its own bar and wine cellar, library, “private
service host”, and a veranda with sweeping views. Villas cost £1,204pp,
based on two sharing for a week, with flights and transfers.
Details: Kuoni (01306 747008, www.kuoni.co.uk
); also see www.evasonresorts.com
Porsche spice
If you want to live like a Premiership footballer, Villa Rahimoana in the Bay
of Islands, New Zealand, is a new four-bedroom property that comes with its
own Porsche Cayenne Turbo and chauffeur. It also has a 25m lap-pool, gym,
heated spa pool, infra-red sauna, home theatre, resident chef, and an office
with wireless internet. From a mere £13,089 a night.
Details: www.eaglesnest.co.nz
Out of Africa
Stay in your own “safari house” — the African version of a villa. Wildlife
Worldwide has 16 houses in Kenya, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and South
Africa. Some come with chefs, child-minders, drivers and safari guides. From
£1,015 a night for two adults and two children.
Details: 0845 1306982, www.wildlifeworldwide.com
Look no wires
Are we all turning into workaholics? Or are we just hooked to the internet?
Coastline, a new operator which specialises in contemporary villas, includes
wireless internet access in all its 22 properties in Ibiza, Majorca and
Corsica. Andy Sturt, Coastline’s owner, said: “I can’t relax unless I’m able
to work and I’m convinced there are more people around like me. If I can
spend 15 minutes each morning checking e-mails then I feel better about
things. People expect to get quick responses these days — it doesn’t matter
if you are on holiday.”
Details: 0844 5571020, www.coastline.co.uk
Be like Bond
The first upmarket (and very James Bond) villas on the Goldeneye estate in
Jamaica will open this year. Ian Fleming wrote all 13 Bond novels at
Goldeneye. He began the first, Casino Royale, on the morning of
February 17, 1952, with the famous opening line: “The scent and smoke and
sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning.” The main
building, where Fleming worked, is now a five-star hotel run by Island
Outpost, which is owned by Chris Blackwell, the record producer who nurtured
the talents of Bob Marley and U2. Prices for renting the villas have yet to
be set, but you can buy one from £320,000.
Details: 020-8704 4500, www.goldeneyedevelopment.com
Book a cook
At least half of customers at CV Travel, an upmarket villa specialist, now
want their meals to be cooked for them. Debbie Marshall, managing director,
said that the number of people asking for chefs has doubled in the past
three years. “People don’t want to be tied to the sink on their holidays,”
she said. “With a private chef you can also order local specialities, and
learn how to cook them if you want.” A week at a plush ten-person villa in
Andalucia costs from £2,335, including a chef.
Details: 0870 0623427, www.cvtravel.co.uk
Moroccan chic
Cedric Reversade, co-owner of Unique Properties, a leading upmarket villa
travel agency, says Tangier is the place to stay. “Chic people, and the
wealthiest ones who want privacy and calm, left Marrakesh and they are all
in Tangier now. It is a very elegant destination — you have amazing dinners
and balls there during the summer.” He recommends Leila House, which sleeps
12, has terraces overlooking the sea and two butlers, two maids, a
housekeeper, a driver (with two cars) and a cook. From £23,500 for a month.
Details: 020-7788 7815, www.cedricreversade.com
Different class
One trend to look out for is a growth in villas built within hotel grounds,
which allow guests to sample restaurants and public areas, but maintain
their privacy, says ITC Classics. It has put together a brochure with “hotel
villas” covering the Caribbean, France, Greece, Italy, Mauritius and Spain.
Christian Locke, project manager, said that most villas have private pools
as well as chefs — plus you don’t have to mingle with other guests unless
you want to. A week at the Elounda Gulf Villas in Crete is from £908pp,
based on six sharing.
Details: ITC Classics (01244 355527, www.itcclassics.co.uk).
Keeping cool?
Global warming is having a knock-on effect when it comes to booking villa
breaks — more people than ever are demanding air-conditioning.
Igluvillas.com says that “air-conditioning is in high demand as it becomes
hotter in Europe”.
Environmentalists, however, point out that this will speed up global warming
as air-con units use electricity and produce carbon emissions. But with more
people using low-cost airlines to fly to villas in Europe (adding to the
problem of greenhouse gasses) the demand for air conditioning in the future
looks set to grow.
