Villa Maribel

The location is handy for supermarkets, the beach and restaurants, and we liked the pool, balcony, and well-stocked kitchen. But the villa is badly neglected and, in its current state, isn't fit for purpose. The air-con was especially frustrating. The owner has connected the units to motion sensors, something I've never seen elsewhere, and they kept switching off at regular intervals. We couldn't sleep through the night. Nobody at Solmar seemed to know how to fix it. The in-house maintenance man said he knew nothing about air-con and would ask someone else. When we complained again, they sent the same man. Eventually someone else came and said the system thought our bedroom window was open, though it wasn't. He said the air-con would work all night, but it didn't. We gave up and moved a fan from the lounge into the bedroom. The lounge has no air-con and stayed at 28 degrees. You can see the temperature on a thermostat kept under lock and key. The unannounced pool and garden workers were also disruptive. They never rang the bell, just appeared in the back garden. We asked for the frequent, noisy lawn mowing to stop, but Solmar said they had no communication or control over those workers, which seemed odd. There were other problems around the house: plumbing in the second bathroom made a loud churning noise from time to time, day and night, something mentioned in another review; the main bedroom door was too big for its frame and wouldn't close properly; and the main bathroom door made so much noise opening and closing that a quiet nighttime toilet trip was impossible. The utilities room and kitchen smelled of petrol, apparently because the villa used to run on a petrol generator. The TV had no signal, several bulbs hadn't been replaced, and the place looked tired, with paint flaking in places. Even though it's in a cul-de-sac, the villa wasn't very quiet, with lots of nearby villas and extensive building work. If I stayed in Binibeca, I'd look further up the hill and away from the sea, as it might be quieter.