The Greek villa specialist courting the trade with real-time availability

As the villas market continues its period of transition, one of the players looking to move closer to agents is Beach Villas. The business was set up by Nathan Pascoe, 24 years ago, in Corfu. He already owned a taverna at Agni Bay, a beautiful beach accessible by boat only. Princess Diana was one of his famous clientele.

He explains: “Customers used to ask me for accommodation, and so I started selling villas. “Fifteen years ago, I bought the Beach Villas brand, and six months ago we started focusing our efforts on the trade. We are now live with Travel Counsellors and Hays, and in talks with a number of other trade partners.”

Beach Villas sells more than 500 private villas with pools in Europe, mostly mid-range, three- and four-star, with a few high-end options. Destinations include Spain, the Balearics, the Canaries, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus and Turkey, but the business is strongest in Greece, where Pascoe started out. “I know most of the owners and their families directly, which is really useful when special requests come in,” he explains. “For example, if there’s a wheelchair user in the holiday party, I can make sure it’s a property with ramps in place.”