This is a lovely villa and the photos don’t do it justice. The pool area is great and there are multiple dinning areas which are great for large groups. There is also a gardener and pool cleaner who come regularly. The only thing I would note about the villa is the lack of air conditioning. We were aware from the listing that there was no air conditioning however, I would say that it was a little too hot during August and the villa could definitely benefit from having it installed.
Putting the villa aside, we had a number of negative experiences with the host.
Upon arrival we were made to sign contracts. In the contract Maribel had tried to change the check out time and the deposit amount from what was stated in the original listing. After a discussion she agreed to the original deposit and check out time. This was not a great start.
The second issue we had was with the bins. The villa is rural and does not have a bin store. Maribel informed us that we would need to take the bins to a bin center about 3km away but no clear directions or instruction of what to do when there were provided. I had informed Maribel that we were not be hiring a car and she basically laughed in my face. Maribel kept insisting that the bin situation was noted in the listing and it was made clear that a car was essential. This is a complete lie. I have screenshots of the original listing and at no point does it mention this. Each time I offered to show Maribel the listing description she would tell me it didn’t matter. After messaging Maribel explaining it was not feasible for us to lug bins to the centre on foot she agreed she would come and collect the bins every 3 days. Each time Maribel was rude and kept insisting that “they” had seen a car at the villa so why couldn’t we take the bin ourselves. I am not
sure who “they” are and Maribel didn’t respond when I asked if she was spying on
us but we simply did not have a car.
After a disappointing start I chose to communicate with Maribel via the Airbnb app to ensure all messages were recorded and could be viewed by Airbnb. This seemed to annoyed Maribel and she questioned why I was not using what app to message her.
Lastly, as mentioned the villa is rural and as we didn’t hire a car, instead we were relying on taxis for the 10 days. The only company that appears to operate in Palma is Taxi Palma Radio and they could be very slow. We were informed that the lack of taxis is a new issue so perhaps this might resolve itself. I would advise that while it is possible to get around without a car, a car would definitely be beneficial and would recommend that this was mentioned in the listing.