Long before booking a stranger’s house as your holiday accommodation became commonplace, businesswoman Judy Menier was developing her own luxury version in SJ Villas. Fifteen years on, the family-run business has built up an impressive portfolio of spectacular private rental properties around the world.

Holiday home rentals may be mainstream these days but what has always set SJ Villas apart from the competition is the calibre of the properties and exacting standards of the company. A cursory glance at the SJ Villas website is enough to pique interest and inspire serious wanderlust. Each palatial home could be plucked from the pages of CN Traveller; many featuring jaw-dropping views, stunning contemporary architecture and wrap-around infinity pools. But beyond the obvious Instagram appeal, the villas are family homes first and foremost, and the people staying in them, likewise, are often families in need of rest and relaxation (and sometimes adventure). Ultimately, the human side of travel and home ownership is the cornerstone of SJ Villas.

‘We are a boutique villa agency,’ explains Tom Menier, the second generation of the family to join the business. ‘Our website is only our “shop window” and there is plenty more inside. Holidays are a very special moment in everyone’s lives and we get discreetly pulled into family circles; their likes and dislikes, what they do and where they’ve been. It’s our job to match all of this to the perfect house for them. We are incredibly picky about what we take into our portfolio and we turn down more houses than we list. It’s not about the cost, it’s about the location, the standards, the ambiance, the staff. Some of Judy’s favourite houses are far from being the most expensive.’

The homeowners, too, often develop close relationships with Tom and Judy (‘these people always have great stories, because to own houses like these you’ve got to be successful’) and the properties (over 300 of them on the website alone) are hand-picked and vetted in-person by a member of the SJ Villas team. In fact, Tom and Judy turn down a number of properties simply because they do not meet their high standards.

The seeds of SJ Villas can be traced to Judy’s background in luxury PR, where she specialised in high-end wines and spirits. Her son followed a similar path in drinks PR, which is little surprise given that the family hails from the Cognac region of France. Tom joined SJ Villas at the tail end of the pandemic, having seen his mother navigate an incredibly challenging time for the travel industry. Post lockdown, business has been booming, with a sharp rise in bookings that accommodate the whole family.

‘Requests for large houses was a big trend last year,’ he says. ‘People have really wanted to get away with the whole family after so many years of not being able to travel. So they want houses with 6, 7, 8 bedrooms plus to accommodate the entire family.’

SJ Villas covers nearly every continent with new finds and destinations added every year. With the business based in London, the clientele is largely British and European, so there’s plenty of demand for summer holidays in the Greek islands, the Italian countryside and the south of France, with winter sojourns in mountainous chalets in Switzerland and the USA. These are coupled with more unusual options that give SJ Villas the aspirational edge, such as a sprawling mansion in rural India and a private island off the coast of Belize owned by Francis Ford Coppola. This too aligns with a growing demand from travellers for far-flung adventure, off-the-beaten track destinations and winter sun.

‘This year we’re focusing on long-haul destinations like the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and India,’ says Tom, who has recently returned from a work trip to Kenya to research potential new houses and safari excursions. SJ Villas properties are grouped into handy collections, such as “surfing”, “beaches”, “private islands” and to cater to the clients’ unique needs and desires.

Around 60 per cent of clients are return customers. As a bespoke service, the property is matched to the client, meaning that booking a last-minute getaway on a whim is not possible. Clients must speak to a member of the team and discuss their requirements in depth to find the right place for them. This seems to suit the clients down to a tee, and they often turn to the company’s expertise with implicit trust and confidence. Says Tom: ‘People will literally call us up and say: “these are our dates – where should we go this year?”

sjvillas.co.uk