Casa Rural Peña Aguda

We paid a €900 deposit when booking the house in June for a September weekend. With the virus situation worsening for a second time and gatherings in private spaces being restricted to groups of 10, we asked to move the booking to December or January. The owner agreed to the change over the phone. When we emailed in December to settle on a date, she said we’d made up the date change and refused to return any of the deposit. She said it wasn’t her fault that we’d cancelled only a few days before the weekend. We feel cheated and outraged by how unprofessional the owner was and how poorly she managed things during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We lost both our deposit and the reservation after Conchi refused to move our booking. We’d paid during the COVID pandemic, but as a group of 16, including children and people at risk, we couldn’t attend because of restrictions. She’d agreed to a date change on the phone, then later wouldn’t honor it. Her treatment was unpleasant and she showed no understanding. Conchi was rude and unsympathetic, and I felt she only cared about her money. She complained about her own problems but wouldn’t consider any of the solutions I politely suggested. You can’t run a business this way and take people’s money without offering any options. It’s a real disgrace, and I wouldn’t advise booking the house or dealing with people like this. Threats, pardons, and lies.

We haven’t even had the chance to visit this accommodation, and I absolutely can’t recommend it. We’d rented the house for New Year’s Eve with our family, but our district, Sanchinarro, was under lockdown during the unusual situation we’re living through, so we couldn’t leave on the dates we’d requested. We explained to the owner, Conchi, that we needed to cancel or change the dates. She didn’t cooperate or respond, and kept the 50% deposit we’d paid. We asked for a complaint form and got no reply. Now we’re going to pursue legal action to recover the money. We also recently saw another similar complaint, where the owner reportedly kept a deposit even though the cancellation was due to a government lockdown order in the guest’s region.

The house itself is very nice and in a great location close to Madrid. Each room has its own bathroom. The complex has three houses, though, and the barbecue, pool, and patio are shared. The pool is quite small, and the house wasn’t cleaned well. Overall, a nice place, though better if you don’t have to share.