Your Best Praia da Luz Holiday

A sudden flash-flood hit the Portuguese Madeira Island last weekend, as of now 42 people passed away, there are still people missing and there are more than 1.3 billion euros in damage, although there are good news with both the Portuguese Government as well as the regional Government and all the Portuguese are helping in any way they can, so just barely a week left and things are looking much better, but there is a long way to go to help the people in need and reconstruct everything that was destroyed.

So everyone here in LuzHolidays decided to make our contribution by donating as well, and wish to everyone in the Madeira Island the very best, hey but you can also help, here are some of the ways:

PT/ TMN

If you are in Portugal, sending a Mobile Text Message to 61906 or a Phone Call to 760 206 070 will charge you 60 cents (+VAT) for each call, and the full amount will be transferred to the Cáritas Diocesana do Funchal (Church Charitable institution in Madeira).

CTT

The Portuguese post-office is offering to goods  for free to the Cáritas Diocesana do Funchal. Just bring all the things you want to send to the post-office and ask for a “caixa solidaria” and put “Madeira” as the destination.

A Cáritas created a list of products and goods that are in need, these are:

• Sheets
• Covers
• Blankets
• Pillows
• Underwear (Male, Female and Children)
• Everyday Clothing
• Hygiene Products
• Diapers
• Powder Milk
• Baby Food
• Caned Goods

AMI (International Medical Assistance)

Website: Ami
The AMI started a campaign to help the people in the Madeira island, putting 50 thousand euros for the ground work and first help, but everyone is invited to help and contribute for their Madeira emergency fund:

NIB: 0007 001 500 400 000 00672
Multibanco: Entidade 20 909 Refª 909 909 909
IBAN: PT 50 0007 001 500 400 000 00672
SWITF: BES CPTPL

Caritas Funchal

Website: Caritas
conta nº 1626371377 (Banco Banif)
NIB nº 003800011626371377113 (Banco Banif)

Portuguese Red Cross (Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa)

Website: Cruz Vermelha
CVP – Delegação da Madeira
NIB: 0033 0000 0000 3425 4590 5 (Banco Millennium BCP)
IBAN: PT50 0033 0000 0000 3425 4590 5

So now that you have booked your holidays with us, you need some plane tickets, whats the best and cheapest way to go about this, to score some cheap tickets?

1. First make sure you go look for tickets as soon as possible, the sooner the better, since although you might find some really cheap lastminute tickets, most of the times the cheapest is to book as soon as possible, at least 2 weeks, better would be 1 or 2 months before, do make use of sales and discounts, they have a tendency to appear around 3 to 5 weeks before the flight.
2. Try and be flexible about dates and times of the day, the more flexible the better the price, sometimes it isn’t possible to predict beforehand, so a good rule of thumb is going for mid week (Wednesday) and early morning (or overnight) flights for the best price, since most people book for flights between Friday and Monday at mid day.
3. Now when you know more or less what you want, its time to search, first you should go for the cheap flight aggregators (sites that check multiple airlines and discount sites), here are the best, in no particular order:
   > Kayak.com
   > Mobissimo.com
   > Yahoo.com Travel
   > Sidestep.com
   > Bing.com Travel
4. So now that you have more or less the flights at the times you want and are the cheapest, just write them down and visit the website of the airline in the ticket, most of the times they will have discounts or promotions or are just a little cheaper in price, mostly because you are cutting the middleman.
5. Finally you should check the low-cost airlines, oh? weren’t they checked above?, well yes and no, because of their business type, they change their prices constantly, so going to them directly is always a good idea, before finally booking, some of the most notable in Europe are:
   > Easyjet.com
   > Ryanair.com
   > Airberlin.com
   > Germanwings.com
6. Then when you are booking the flight check the fine print, somethings are not mandatory, like insurance or added bags, so really only choose what you need and that’s it.

As a side-note for trips here to the Algarve and the Faro Airport, even though a regional airport it is already one of Europe’s leading low cost hub airports, so there is a lot of choice, so checking the Faro Airport Web-page or even their Wikipedia page will tell your all the airlines and destinations that come here, but since low-cost airlines are so prevalent on Faro Airport you can skip directly to point 5, still sometimes the standard airlines as well as the charter airlines will offer cheaper prices.

So why is it risky to just “lock and leave” your vacation home?

Well a property can be left unoccupied for a variety of reasons, such as resale, refurbishment or extended leave of the owners. However unlike a normally occupied home you should have extra care, there is a reason why the insurance companies charge extra for an unoccupied property, that is, your regular property insurance does not cover if the house is unoccupied, also although higher priced they generally provides significantly less protection to homeowners than standard homeowners insurance policies, this is due to increased risk of serious damage and loss to vacant property, these are some of the risks:

• Burglary, they are more attractive to thieves.
• Unattended Leaks and Floods, from heavy downpours.
• Illegal Occupation
• Criminal Damage
• Mildew and Mold

If the home had been occupied or visited often, the damage would have been evident much more quickly and the consequent loss would have been mitigated considerably. These threats on a vacant property can incur expensive repair costs or time consuming and costly legal action.  Serious damage to a property can also reduce its market value.

Also even if you do get insurance for an Unoccupied Property you are expected to “act as if there were no insurance in place”. It is a principle of insurance that you act “with reasonable care”, so these insurance points are also important to consider:

• Ensure that the unoccupied property is securely locked – this seems obvious but an unlocked door or a window open to “circulate air” is an easy target for vandals, squatters and the like.
• Arrange for the empty property to be visited at least once every seven days either by yourself or an appointed representative.
• Make the empty home look like it is inhabited. Small investments such as light timer switches, gardening, clean pool and any post cleared really does make a difference.
• Turn off the water supply at the mains and drain the system. Escape of water damage claims are the most common cause of damage and this cover is often excluded. Check your unoccupied property insurance policy wording but we recommend the water drained eliminating the risk completely.
• Remove any valuable items, such as gold, silver and paintings from your unoccupied building. These are often excluded anyway, but to the inquisitive eye, even the damage caused trying to gain access to these items can be easily avoided.

So it is important to have someone like Luzholidays to manage your property in Praia da Luz (or if you have a property anywhere else, just contract a good property management firm), sometimes it doesn’t seem like an important investment, but its a guarantee that your holiday property will always be in excellent condition and have the peace of mind to know that its been taken cared of, and even if something bad happens that we are here to fix it.

There are plenty of reasons to book your holiday early with Luz Holidays, some are more obvious than others, but these tend to be the rule not only for us, but for any holiday trip you will make, here are some of the best points:

1. Early Booking Discounts, although sometimes you can get some savings on a last minute booking, 90% of the time its booking early that will get the best price, last minute is when most properties are already booked, so the price will go up, because there will be a greater demand;
2. Property Availability, a big part of our booking comes from recurring clients that book from year to year (recurring clients have preference on bookings), so from the start there are already several bookings made and not all properties are available for all the days you want, so booking early is a good way for you to find and get the holiday property you want, more choice means the holiday you want and not the holiday you can get;
3. Extras Availability, even though most extras like golf and excursions and other holiday activities are not affected by availability, some are, like car hire and holiday extras, so booking early avoids not having available some services that are limited;
4. Book Now Pay Later, most companies including Luz Holidays requires a deposit to make the reservation, however you will only fully pay for the holiday later, on or near the date of arrival;
5. Locked Price, after booking is done the price is locked so whatever happens you know exactly how much you will pay;
6. Cheaper Flights, yes its true, the same way as booking a property, booking your flight will make it cheaper, will also get the times and days that are more comfortable for you and the seats you want, so that’s a big saving in your pocket and to your holiday schedule;
7. Planning, because you book early you have time to do some research on your destination, what to expect what you should pack, regarding Luz Holidays, we are always available if you have any questions;
8. Peace of Mind, this one is a no-brainer (sorry for the easy pun), but by booking early you can relax and know that you and your family will have an awesome holiday, that’s the whole point of a holiday, to take some time-out, to relax, have some fun and recharge your batteries.

As a final note, and in contrast with this post, well you can sometimes get pretty good last minute holidays, even with Luz Holidays, there is always some days available in a property or a late cancellation, but the benefits of a early booking largely outweigh the luck of a last minute booking.

With the horrible earthquake and humanitarian disaster in Haiti, we decided to make a post about how you can help a little bit and what resources are online for information about this 7.0 earthquake and the aftermath.

A really good source of information is Google with their dedicated Haiti relief page, were you can get up to date information as well as trusted sources to donate to, so if you want to donate, its a good place to go, also the Wikipedia Page on the Earthquake as well as the major news sources like CNN and BBC have dedicated pages on the subject.

If you live in Portugal you can also contribute by going to Cruz Vermelha (Portuguese Red Cross) or Oikos and make your contributions there, also there are other places where you can help just by clicking on a link (the advertisers on the site pay for the contributions) like The Hunger Site (just click the big button that says Click Here to Give).

We all in LuzHolidays decided to make our contribution by donating to the Haiti funds on Unicef and the World Food Programme, in the hope things get better in Haiti.

Long term rentals can range from as little as 3 months, and can be renewed every year on an 11 month contract.  The demand for long term rentals is on the up as individuals and families planning a move to Portugal use a long term rental as a ‘try before they buy’ to experience Portuguese life before making the move more permanent.

As a specialist in long term rentals, we can source a long term rental property to match your needs.  Whether you are looking for a long winter let to escape the colder temperatures of home, or a place to call home for the next 11 months, we can find a long term rental to suit.

You can contact us by using any of our contacts.