To be clear, we were "upgraded" to the upstairs Villa Gina.
Here are our positives and negatives.
The positives:
*The floor plan layout is perfect for larger groups *The housekeeper, Merlin, was a delightful hardworking lady who did her best to maintain a clean villa and also made us some outstanding meals. *The location, being close to Rodney Bay, Gross Islet, and Pigeon Island is wonderful.
*The villa was fairly well equipped with dishes, pots and pans, towels, etc.
*The pool was great *The villa itself is beautiful in design and layout and materials used, as I said, it has the potential to be five star but please read on....
The negatives:
NOT BEACHFRONT!
The villa is advertised as beach front - it is NOT! To get to the beach you walk down a VERY steep hill, across a road, down a long narrow path, across Royalton Resorts boardwalk, past security ....NOT welcoming - we went elsewhere.
ACCESS!
Access from parking is via a long, dark, uneven, steep stairway- no lighting and a tall chain link fence, tarped with dark fibreglass sheeting. Stairs are uneven, treads sloped and risers vary in height - it's treacherous if you have any kind of mobility issues.
DIRTY SHEETS:
The first night we arrived the bed sheets had long black hair and blood stains. (Hubby is bald and I'm blonde) The owner indicated because he had "upgraded" us he didn't have time to ensure it was clean.
A/C
It is advertised as air conditioned - only the bedrooms have a/c. The master a/c smells musty and blows on your neck - we shut it off after the first night and used the ceiling fan and fresh air.
RATS!
We had a loaf of bread chewed into and asked maintenance if it could be birds but day 3 we came home, opened the door, & a small brown animal scurried up the stairs to the loft. Maintenance explained it was a rat and he would spread poison and have pest control come in the morning. We went out for the day but that evening we saw a rat five different times, again were assured everything it would just take a day or two. The problem persisted so we contacted the owner in Florida who was horrible to us - blaming us for disrespecting his villa! Two days of awful texts from him (we stopped responding) and on day 3 a semi-apology and begrudging offer of a meal or part refund - we did not respond. Maintenance caught 3 rats while we were there.
Space does not allow me to go into the issues of bugs and lack of maintenance- doors don't latch, cupboards screwed shut, dishwasher broken, etc.