Great place, fantastic holiday, poor management
Submitted: August 23, 2012
Stayed: June 2012
The Villa's setting was beautiful, up in the hills with a fantastic view. The property in some respects was quite worn and uncared for, many of the door locks did not work; there was something in pretty much every room that didn't work or was in disrepair, but these things are to be expected. Some rooms had been renovated and were very nice. The kitchen, lounge and outside area were great. Pool was massive and in a really lovely setting - just a shame that the caretaker (owner's son) only put the filters on twice in a week. By the end of the holiday you didn't want to get in!
Wireless did not work and worse, the owner should have been honest about it. They said there's nothing they could do but then installed a new satellite dish on the second to last day of our stay. So, completely unannounced, we had workmen drilling in one of the bedrooms and on the roof and leaving a mess. And it still did not work!
The hottub was cold for the whole stay which the caretaker tried to fix but couldn't so then he tried to pass it off as normal (even though his own hottub was hot).
Customer service prior to the trip was fantastic, the owner was very accommodating, answering every tiny question we had. On arrival the caretaker was great, really friendly and helpful. After these complaints however, the tone changed, both were rude, argumentative and dishonest.
On return to England, we realised there had been a misunderstanding regarding the final departure clean (charged as extra). the owner said she would be in touch regarding final charges. She did not reply and just held back our full deposit without explanation.
Details of a chef and cleaners hire which we'd booked in advance had not been passed on to the caretaker and so had to be set up late notice. The food was nice but not worth the price as ingredients were so cheap.
The attitude of the management was that they were trying to be accommodating and offer alternatives for the things that went wrong. but as paying guests that's just not good enough. you don't want to be spending every day having to put up with things, or arrange other things, because they haven't been bothered to do it before you arrived!
Would probably suit groups of families, but certainly not groups of 30-somethings or hen/stag dos (as advertised) as noise in the area is a major issue.
Oliva beach is a 10-15 minute drive and really lovely; very secluded. A couple of bars and restaurants nearby were welcoming and good quality.
Owner's Response: This is the email we received from this client after leaving our property. Unfortunately, these guests left the property in an unclean state, and incurred many many extra hours of cleaning, which were charged for. Photo's of the mess, including leaving stale food out in the kitchen for at least two days, which encouraged insects and other creatures. The photo's were sent to the client of the mess, and an explanation of the charges of the cleaning. Self catering means you self cater, it does not include cleaning up peoples rubbish and mess. There was a big issue with the noise, screaming and partying all night, despite being informed that this could be an issue with the neighbours, and any noise after midnight should be kept to a minimum, and kept inside the house.
At all times we have been polite and helpful, even when these guests ran out of drink at 11.30pm and asked my son James, to see if he could get more for that same night, which at great length he did manage to as we have friends in the town who have bars and restaurants, who were able to assist. There was also an issue of our property being defaced by 'decorative' material, which was left for the cleaners to remove and clear away. Bags and bags of rubbish and rotting food was left in the kitchen, despite the bins being only a 20 meter walk. The hot tub was on, it was not on very hot, as the temperatures here this summer have reached over 50 degrees., they were offered to use our personal hot tub, but declined this offer. The pool has an automatic filter system, and the pool company clean the pools regularly. The pool filter has never been manually operated.
The email is as follows from this lady?-
Hi Beverley
Just to say a big thanks to yourself and Jamie for looking after us on our holiday.
There were a couple of glitches with the wifi and hot-tub not being as advertised but overall we had a fantastic time and are thinking of booking next year too!
I hope we left the place in a good state and we're really, really grateful to Jamie & his dad for smoothing over the noise complaint. Jamie was telling us about how it's not the first complaint the villa has had and how the neighbours can be!
So finally, just asking if the security deposit will be refunded automatically or do I need to do something?
Thanks again
Kim
Helpful votes: 2/2
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
No
