Somewhat disappointed with apartment.
Submitted: May 6, 2011
Stayed: April 2011
Positive points:
Apartment immaculately clean and well presented.
Well located about halfway up the hill upon which Motovun sits, a twenty minute stiff climb to top from apartment.
Convenience store and butcher’s shop just over road.
Our host Barbara was exceptionally friendly and helpful and always on hand to deal with any queries or problems we had.
The apartment has a pleasant garden area with a table and chairs available.
Two good size bedrooms in apartment.
Motovun is one of the most attractive medieval towns in Istria and a good base for exploring the region.
Negative points:
Lack of a lounge area with comfortable chairs was a problem. We went in April when the evenings were cool, so often spending the evening on the balcony was not an option. The only other place to sit was the kitchen and the chairs were not comfortable ones.
The kitchen was very small and there wasn’t much room for manoeuvre. This made cooking and washing up a bit difficult. There was also a light fitting in the kitchen from which a lamp dangled so low that we repeatedly hit our heads on it. This was rather an annoyance, and I am sure this could be easily remedied. There is no oven, but there is a hob with four electric rings.
The view from the balcony was not as good as we had hoped for; the balcony looks out onto the tourist agency car park and although some of the surrounding countryside can be seen, most of the vista is taken up by some large trees and the busy street which runs along the front of the property.
Noise from the street was a problem as there were some youths living nearby who seemed to spend most evenings tearing up and down on extremely noisy motorbikes.
While sitting on the balcony we would regularly experience strong smells of sewage which seemed to emanate from somewhere in the roof of the building. Barbara said that this was probably due to the way the building’s sewage system was designed and there was nothing that could be done to remedy it. I appreciate that this may be the case, but it was seriously unpleasant and definitely put us off from using the balcony.
I would say that this apartment is overpriced.
Summary:
Unfortunately, although this apartment has many good points, it also has a number of significant negative points which mean that I would not be in a position to recommend it to other travellers.
Owner's Response: Dear guest,
thank you for your review, we found it very detailed and informative.
We always try our best to make our guest welcome, comfortable, and to help them enjoy their stay. We are also very careful not to advertise features that do not exist or to present them in a way that something could be misguiding.
We already fixed some of your remarks such as light in kitchen, replaced the chairs so they are more comfortable now. Sewage problem of bad smell is eliminated, as we done some works on the system, and prolonged some tubes, so that is fine too.
Terrace is now as always still best bit of this apartment, with views over vineyards and nature, but of course best used in warm weather.
Busy street can be a problem, but only during morning hours between 9am and 3 pm while working hours, we also have very good windows that eliminate most of this noise during day.
We must say that we never advertised that there is oven in the kitchen, and that there is a separate living room. However there are two rooms and guest if they use one for sleeping, could use other as sort of living room, now there is a another armchair and small table in one of the room and some cushions on the bad that can be used as living room - hope this will solve this problem stated in the complaint.
About the price, we believe it is reasonable comparing it to competition, and in this case guest received substantial discount (it came 46 EUR/night for 2 people), and heating (even if it is not included in the add), and welcome drink as complementary service as well as basic supply of coffee, tea, milk, sugar, mineral water, etc.
We know that with this changes we made, and with our effort to make your stay best as possible in our apartment will prove to be worthy of future interest.
Helpful votes: 2/3
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