Specialist villa operator Simpson Travel has snapped up South France Villas, a deal completed on 4 August 2026 that adds a batch of handpicked properties across Languedoc and the Côte d'Azur to the company's French collection. For holidaymakers who like their summer breaks villa-based and handled by humans rather than apps, it means a noticeably wider choice in two of France's most appealing southern regions.
The acquisition fits a pattern. In 2025 Simpson Travel brought Affinity Villas into the fold, which gave it a well-received Portugal programme. Buying South France Villas is the next move in that growth strategy, and it comes with a built-in advantage: the incoming properties have long been run by owners Trudi and Niall Andrews, who are retiring as part of the deal but leave behind years of guest relationships and local knowledge.
That knowledge isn't walking out the door. Sandra Macdonald, who is based near Béziers and has spent more than two decades in villa rentals, moves across from the South France Villas team to become Simpson Travel's Portfolio Manager for the South of France. Her role will be picking and looking after the properties in the region — the kind of on-the-ground expertise that matters when you're choosing between a stone mas in vineyard country and an apartment above a Riviera beach.
CEO Ed Pyke framed the deal as much about people as inventory, pointing to the way the Andrews built genuine relationships with their guests and noting that Macdonald's regional knowledge and client care made her the obvious person to lead the South of France chapter. Trudi Andrews, for her part, described Simpson Travel as one of the UK's leading specialist operators and a good home for the business's existing clients.
Why should a traveller care? If you've booked with South France Villas before, your holidays now sit under the Simpson Travel umbrella, with its concierge-style service layered on top. And if you're new to both, the combined portfolio makes it easier to book one operator for a Languedoc villa one summer and a Portuguese hideaway the next. Languedoc in particular is having a moment: fewer crowds than Provence, serious wine country around Béziers and Pézenas, and prices that undercut the Riviera without sacrificing Mediterranean beaches. The Côte d'Azur additions, meanwhile, give Simpson's guests a route into the classic Nice-to-Menton stretch — glamorous, busy, but unbeatable for a certain kind of long, sun-soaked summer stay.
For anyone weighing up a southern France villa holiday, a bigger, better-curated portfolio from a specialist with a track record of absorbing brands smoothly is good news on both choice and service. Expect the South France Villas properties to be folded into Simpson's France brochure over the coming seasons, with Macdonald's Béziers base keeping the operation firmly rooted in the region it sells.
Story via Breaking Travel News.
