As seasoned travelers who have frequented many an AB&B we’ve experienced more than our fair share of accommodations, and would like to think ourselves as fair and impartial reviewers.
In general, our experiences have been quite good and we’ve only had a few dogs to speak of, but this one - it can only be characterised as:
Il Buono, il Cattivo, il Brutto…
Il Buono:
The apartment is relatively spacious , sunny, on the top floor, and has a large deck aimed at the waterfront. Has abundant views, and is in a fairly quiet area with parking, shops and restaurants within easy reach.
Il Cattivo:
It’s a tired building, and an apartment that could use some upgrading. The furniture is worn and the kitchen and bathroom a bit ragged around the edges. These days with the quality that can be had with the care that most hosts put into their units, there is no excuse for rusty and broken outdoor furniture. And If you’re going to provide child care accommodations, make sure they’re clean and intact.
Il Brutto:
Manuel was our contact person, and offered to meet us at the apartment. He had let us know that the unit would not be ready on time but that we could see it before it was cleaned and drop off our luggage as a courtesy while it was being cleaned. Word to the wise: do not take anyone up on this offer, as in our case, what we saw was probably any host’s worse nightmare - the previous guests had left the place in an unholy mess and as shocking as that was for us, we couldn’t believe that Manuel would not bother to check it out ahead of time before letting us survey the disgusting state it was left in.
It’s simply not smart to start with a bad impression as it’s doubly hard to recover from that.
If we had a choice we would’ve walked away, but it was late and we were tired.
We reached out to the owner and she did apologise and asked if there was any way she could make it up to us, and once we saw the place cleaned up we decided that a modest deduction in the first night’s rent would be adequate compensation. But then she decided that it was time to dicker and that the ONLY deducting would be for the time we had to wait outside while that place was being cleaned. We tried to explain that it’s business 101 to try to be gracious in order to right a wrong, but to no avail.
Long story short - we cannot recommend this place as:
1. It is not as advertised
2. The host’s response and service are inadequate