It was a beautiful villa. An open-plan cottage on Lanzarote with wonderful views and a terrific pool. Perfect, thought my colleague Steve Keenan, the travel editor of Times Online. Unfortunately, it was right next to a pound of 50 yapping dogs. Day and night they barked, only stopping when he threw them the odd sausage. He had learnt the hard way the perils of booking a villa online without using a travel agent or tour operator.

A decade ago, almost all of our overseas holidays were packages, bought from a tour operator. But figures from the upmarket holiday company CV Travel suggest that we now book more than 60 per cent of villa holidays independently, finding our own flight, car hire and accommodation instead of buying a tour operator’s package. Partly this is because we have become more confident about booking online. We’re happy to book airline seats, so carrying on surfing for a villa feels easy. But booking one from a random website, however enticing the photographs, is riskier than booking a flight.

“I would never book a villa over the internet, unless it was part of a bonded holiday company. Otherwise there’s nobody to complain to,” said Glen Donovan, of the exclusive travel agency Earth. “I would risk a hotel, because at least you can check it out on Trip- advisor or in a guidebook, but not a villa.”

There are no recognised grading schemes for villas, as there are for hotels. There are no easy ways to read anecdotal opinions of particular villas online, as there are with hotels. The only way that villas are graded is by whether or not they are included in tour operators’ brochures. I’ve even heard of holidaymakers who devote a day of their holiday to check prospective villas for next year’s break. Kate Marriott, the director of The Holiday Planner, a bespoke travel agency, knows the pitfalls. “There might be building work on other villas next door, especially if it’s a new villa. Photos of rooms might have been taken with a wide-angle lens.” Her solution is to let only villas that she or her staff have personally inspected.

Another danger is that you may not have the protection of the 1992 EU Package Travel Regulations. These are a real cure for insomnia, but if your holiday goes wrong you’ll suddenly find them very interesting indeed.

They apply if you book a package holiday with a tour operator or travel agent that offers financial protection, such as an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (Atol) or a bond with the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta). This means that the travel company is obliged to sort out any problems, and even move you to a different villa, if things go wrong. If they don’t give you the holiday you paid for, you can take them to court here in the UK, easily and cheaply.

But if you book a villa direct with the owner or through an agency that does not offer financial protection, you may be left high and dry. If there’s a problem you must track down the owner or agency boss: even if they are sympathetic, they are unlikely to offer you a different villa. And if you end up having to sue them, you will have to do so in the country where they are based.

A&K Villas
(0845 0700618, www.abercrombiekent.co.uk)
Caribtours
(020-7751 0660, www.caribtours.co.uk)
CV Travel
(020-7384 5850, www.cvtravel.co.uk)
Earth
(www.earthlondon.com)
The Holiday Planner
(020-8398 6332, www.theholidayplanner.co.uk)
Tripadvisor
(www.tripadvisor.co.uk).

Tips on internet booking

• Look for companies that are financially protected — they will display the Abta, Atol or other symbol.

• If not, ensure that the company you book with has a contact phone number and address on its website.
  
  
• Ask to see more photos and letters of recommendation from former customers. Ask detailed questions, such as what size the pool is and how far the villa is from other buildings.
  
  
• E-mail a summary of your discussion to the villa owner or agent, and request a receipt.
  
  
• Check aerial shots of the property on Google Earth to see if it’s next to the local sewage plant.
  
  
• Pay with a credit card. If anything goes wrong, you can ultimately take it up with your credit card company.

The Times Holiday Handbook by Cath Urquhart (Navigator Guides, £12.95), costs £11.50 from The Times BooksFirst (0870 1608080, www.booksfirst.co.uk)