Casa Rural Hero

We stayed the first week of March 2024 and were surprised by how much bigger the villa was than it looked in the photos. It has high ceilings, lovely floors, and feature walls, with two double rooms and three twin rooms, so ten people can sleep there easily. There were only a few of us, and next time we'd bring more family to make better use of the space. The host was flexible about check-in and check-out and provided a cot for our baby. It's a peaceful spot away from the noise of the main town. You'd want your own car or taxis, as some roads around Tias aren't well lit at night. We'd definitely stay again if we come back to Lanzarote.

The shops are about a 15-minute walk away, and Paco was easy to reach by phone whenever we needed something. It's a really nice, spacious villa. The only letdown was the jacuzzi: it should be warm and separate, but it's connected to the pool and uses the same water.

We lost our holiday 25 days before departure, and the way the host handled it left us angry and disappointed. We'd booked this villa through Booking.com in 2019 for a week in June 2020 with six friends. COVID meant we couldn't travel, so the trip was cancelled and moved to the next year. In early 2021, travel still felt too uncertain, and we decided not to go. The host agreed through Booking.com to move the stay to 2022, then cancelled the platform booking and marked us as a "No Show". We told Booking.com that he'd arranged a new booking with us directly, outside the platform. He also asked for another €300 because of price changes, which we agreed to pay. By January 2022, we still had no confirmation or receipt. Messages were few and far between, and it took weeks of chasing before we finally got proof of the booking. Then, on Sunday 8th May, the host messaged us on WhatsApp to say he'd double booked our dates and the villa wasn't available. He said a "Production Company" had booked it and couldn't change dates. We panicked, because finding somewhere for seven people in Lanzarote in June that suited our needs would be difficult. He offered another property, but it wasn't up to the standard of the one we had booked. He then said the booking terms required us to accept that offer or lose the booking altogether. That wasn't true: we had booked outside Booking.com, which was our mistake, and it felt like he was trying to use their terms to keep our money. After a lot of messages and persistence, we got a full refund, but exchange rate changes cost us money. While we were chasing it, the host was sarcastic, saying he didn't own his bank and couldn't make them send the transfer. We found that rude and unnecessary, especially when we could have lost a lot of money through no fault of our own. We got no formal apology. Reading older reviews, it seemed this host had cancelled on another party close to their travel dates before, so be aware. We believe he told Booking.com we were a "no show" to claim some kind of compensation, then took a higher offer from the "Production Company". In our view, our original 2019 booking should have been honoured instead of being pushed aside because of the host's administrative mistake. Seven people are now without a holiday this June, and I hope this review helps others avoid the same disappointment and stress. Casa Rural Hero, greed will get you nowhere in this industry.

Mr. Pako was very friendly, and the house had everything we needed. I had an excellent week there. Ciao buddy.