We encourage all of the people who rent holiday properties through our site to leave reviews about it.

As enough time has passed now for the reviews to start, we are getting some interesting issues around what to do with holiday rentals that have bad reviews. For me personally, the answer has always been clear. Providing the reviews are genuine (and we verify every one) then they stay, good or bad. That is the point of a review system.

However over the last few weeks I have listened to some well reasoned argument that once a holiday rental is confirmed as bad, then we should remove their property. The rationale being, if the property or it’s owner/agent is that bad then why should it be listed on a holiday rental website?

I suppose I am thinking that if it is bad, and people are aware through the reviews that it is bad, then that is a good thing. It informs renters about the property and the issue holiday makers have had. It is then up to the renter to decide if they ignore the reviews or ignore the property. Reviews are simply opinions. However, if there are enough of them saying the same thing though you need to be really careful if you ignore them.

So what’s the best way to play this - remove the properties with lots of bad reviews or leave them, informing our customers about the potential problems with a certain property?

I am delighted to announce that Direct Holiday Bookings has won the North East Digital Awards best business website.

While shortlisting is based on votes, the final decision on the winner is made by a panel of leading Internet specialists who look at all aspects of the business, from commercial model through to customer experience. Our whole team were delighted to be recognised at a ceremony held in a renovated museum building in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

I dare say that we had a glass of wine or two to celebrate

Thank you for your feedback and input that has helped us to shape Direct Holiday Bookings into what it is today. I really appreciate all of the help and support you have given us. We have so much more planned for the next 12 months to make Direct Holiday Bookings as good as we possibly can for you.