Casa Alistaire

We booked Casa Alistaire through Airbnb, thankfully, and not the property's independent site. Two days before our trip, the manager called to say the house needed renovations, which you can read about in other reviews, and contractors would arrive a week early. We were told we’d be upgraded to the beach villas at Old Man by the Sea Villas. Our group was eight adults and my four-month-old baby, and we never saw Casa Alistaire. The villas weren’t suitable for us. The toilets and showers were outside, two villas wouldn’t lock, and two air conditioners didn’t work. The public restaurant could easily access two of the outdoor bathrooms. There was construction on the property, and with doors that didn’t lock, we felt unsafe. We’d booked a house so we could stay together, with a kitchen and indoor bathrooms to bathe the baby. It was so hot when we arrived that she was breathing heavily because the AC wasn’t working. We went to dinner and checked again at 9 pm, thinking perhaps the AC needed time to cool the rooms. It was still extremely hot. We called Airbnb, and the first representative said the host had agreed to refund us if we chose not to stay, and would come speak to us in the morning. In the morning, an employee said she’d contact him. After trying again, she handed us her phone, and we spoke with him on speaker so everyone could hear. He was gracious, apologized that the house was unavailable, and promised a full refund. We said we understood and would pay for the one night we’d stayed in the villas. He thanked us and told us to let Airbnb know so the refund could be processed. As we were leaving, another employee apologized and said children weren’t allowed on the property, so she understood why it wouldn’t work. The employees were all kind, friendly, and tried to help with our problems. Back home, I called Airbnb to check on the refund. They said the host had been unresponsive for days despite multiple attempts to contact him. Two days later, he denied ever offering a refund. I gathered photos and videos showing the outdoor bathrooms, broken AC, doors that didn’t lock, and construction at 10 pm, to prove we hadn’t stayed at Casa Alistaire. A week later, he offered just over $2,000, only half our money, because of “our issues.” I told Airbnb that wasn’t acceptable. We wanted the refund he’d promised for the four days we didn’t stay, since we hadn’t received the property we booked. Yesterday, exactly two weeks after we got home, Airbnb refunded us because Alistaire had violated their policies and was found at fault. We got the refund for the four nights we didn’t stay, plus half of the night we did stay because of the problems. If we’d booked through his website, I can’t imagine what would’ve happened. We might have been out $4,000 because he didn’t want to refund us. We hadn’t planned to write a review. We understood things happen, and would’ve been fine moving to a hotel and getting the promised refund. But after the owner’s repeated lies, we had to warn people. Casa Alistaire might be a great property, but we never saw it, so we can’t know. The owner doesn’t seem to care about customer service and will say anything to get and keep his money.

Lovely, peaceful place, and the hosts were great.

One of the best places to enjoy life!

Great place.