Apartment VIParaiso

We searched long and hard for this apartment- advertised as 3 bedroom. This was essential, as we have 2 teenagers who can't share a room as 1) different gender and 2) our daughter has a chronic illness and needs space to rest. When we got to the apartment and were shown round, there were only 2 bedrooms, and when we asked our host, she rolled her eyes and said "you want 3rd bedroom!?" and started to make up a sofa bed, seeming very irritated. It made us feel really awkward at 11pm when all we wanted to do was go to bed. She finally left, and our son moved his suitcase into the tiny room- with only the bed and a desk, no where to unpack! There was also only a glass sliding door onto the main living area with a flimsy mesh curtain, not only affording him no privacy, but as there were NO curtains to the living area, he couldn't shut out the light, disturbing his sleep every night! This is NOT our definition of "a third bedroom" The apartment also advertised "free WiFi" although this was only working for about half of our visit, making it necessary for the host to come and visit twice. The 2nd time they were unable to fix it! Whilst we appreciate that they attempted to resolve the issue, we still had no WiFi and grumpy teenagers. Perhaps a new service provider is needed. Only 1 of the 3 TVs worked (when we had WiFi) This was next to the window that overlooked the "setting sun", with no curtains or blinds, making it impossible to see the TV screen from the sofa in the evening! The bidet in the en suite bathroom broke early in our stay, and was not repaired. The apartment was generally dirty! Litter from previous occupants, and a full filthy ashtray! Some surfaces and under beds/sofa were FILTHY! It's not possible to access the pool, or re- enter the complex without a key.

We missed curtains in the living room considering the apartment is on the 2nd floor, and in front of a different hotel, you could easily see through especially when someone is sleeping in the living room as were our case. One thing that was also mentioned before was the available parking spaces. These are limited within the complex parking area, lucky enough we managed to park on the street not too far from the building.

Parking is very limited. If you hire a car it's pot luck if you can park it. We found an underground carpark close by, but cost approx 15 euros for each night. A key is required for the swimming pool, and we were only given one which can make it awkward if some people want to go down at slightly different times. It would be useful if some guides/instructions were provided. Not so much instructions on using facilities as we worked that out, but just recommendations of where to go to eat, closest beach etc. No sandy beaches here, and they are a good 20 minute walk from the apartment. There is no restaurant or bar on site, except the pool bar which was pretty good. I have a feeling there could be more to the resort than we saw, but when you're not given any guideance it's difficult to know.

1. Owners assistant tried to charge us €150 on arrival which was never mentioned during booking process. 2. The same lady decided to take the air conditioning control as felt ‘we didn’t need it’ even though we had previously asked for it. 3. Oven was broken (knob was burnt and didn’t turn) we were told to swap knobs around but it still didn’t turn on. It was never fixed. The owner knew about this prior to our stay. 4. None of the 3 TVs worked. The smart TV had a cable problem and we couldn’t stream anything. This was never fixed. Plus lots of wires by the socket all exposed and dangerous. 5. Bathroom doors don’t lock which means if there’s a gust of wind then it flies open leaving whoever is in there exposed. 6. 2 days before we left, the assistant let herself into our apartment without prior consent. She didn’t even knock. I had just got out the shower and heard a noise so quickly got dressed only to find her wandering around the apartment! I asked why she had come in without knocking and she replied ‘I have keys, I can come in whenever I like !’ I was mortified. She was then shouting at me about the oven in Russian and told me I had to move a know to turn on the timer then move another knob to turn it on. I explained I’m not an electrician and asked where the instructions were? She laughed at me, said I was stupid because ‘everyone knows how to fix this problem’. Clearly not. I had to ask her to leave because I was really angry and upset. We had purposely booked this apartment because of the facilities. If we had known those things didn’t work we would have booked elsewhere. The communication was terrible and nothing was fixed. Booking.com never did anything apart from empathise and say we were due a refund. Of course that never happened.