Don’t get me wrong, this is a lovely villa with very pretty views of the lagoon, a wonderful pool and a great location in a quiet neighbourhood around 3km from shops, beaches and restaurants. However, for us our stay fell down on two fronts. 1. Communication. Before our arrival I asked for information and instructions several times. Finally a reply contained an absolute minimum of information and stated that the housekeeper Isabel would be there to hand us the key. Half an hour before arrival, I still had not managed to get hold of Isabel despite leaving several voice messages (I speak some Portuguese). I finally called the owner’s number only to get talking to his lovely Dad (who does not speak English at all) who promised to call Isabel for us. When we arrived, a nice young guy called Rui (Isabel’s son?) had just pulled up and gave us a minimalist 3-minute tour of the house. Same lack of communication when we found out that the wifi was not working because the card had not been pre-loaded – more phone-calls to Dad, Isabel and Rui before the owner put money on the card.
2. The house itself looked like it had been stripped bare by locusts. There were no instructions for anything – appliances, rubbish collection, pool maintenance – nada. There was no welcome pack of food essentials, no detergent or cleaning materials, not even the most basic condiments. We have stayed in many villas before but this has never happened to us before. Not impressed