Luxury Self-catering holiday accommodation

Marks Place Ltd. - About Us

For a lot of our holidays we prefer to stay in self-catering places rather than hotels. Self- catering is more relaxed, we can eat what, when and where we want, and we have a lot more space than in hotels. Especially with young children, smart hotels just aren't suitable. However what we discovered is that most self-catering is pretty basic. We didn't see why we should have to give up luxury just because we didn't want the constraints of a hotel. We tried a few places with childcare run by larger British companies. They seemed to be a complete rip-off, charging astronomic prices in school holidays as they knew perfectly well that was when families are forced to travel.

In the end we had had enough. We bought our own chalet in Switzerland because we love to ski and it doubled up as a fantastic summer holiday too - two holidays for the price of one. To help fund the purchase we started to let it, and discovered rapidly that a lot of other holiday makers found themselves in a similar dilemma. Short of huge luxurious villas for the rich, luxury self-catering just didn't seem to exist. The chalet has been a great success, and what also struck us from the comments in the Visitors Book is that many others seemed to like our taste and choice of location. Many guests have stayed more than once.

So now we are following the same philosophy again. We chose a slightly less popular area of Switzerland than the obvious British tourist destinations. We have done the same with Italy. The Italians holiday in Puglia in the deep south, leaving Tuscany to the British and Germans. It has ancient towns, hills, beaches olive groves and vineyards. But it is much less developed, like all of Italy was 30 years ago. We are following exactly the same recipe as before. Choose a really good location (we looked at more than 100), make sure the house has a totally authentic local architecture (actually there are two properties). Furnish them in local style, but with a lighter, airier twist. Make sure all the luxury items and conveniences are there, but make it suitable for children if there are any, so everyone can relax. My family will be the first to try out the new place!

Mark's Places may only have three properties, but they come with an assurance of quality, comfort, authenticity and that they are placed in the ideal spot. Several of our chalet renters have already asked to book for Italy just on the basis that they trust us to get it right. That's what a holiday should be about. Holidays are a big item for all of us, and we all travel with high expectations. We should be able to trust the holiday provider, not worry if there is a motorway at the back of the hotel, or there is a noisy nightclub round the corner,

Have a great holiday

Marks Places Ltd. is the operating company for these properties, it is a UK registered company, registered at 11 Murray Street London NW1 9RE, company no: 6054600