Villa Kova

Our stay started badly and turned into an even worse week. After booking through AirBnB, we heard nothing from the host. We contacted them early, as usual, to ask about checking in, and the Host confirmed it was fine. But when we reached the house, nobody was there. It's a little off the beaten track and only accessible by a narrow, poorly paved gravel or forest road. We had no key box code or other contactless check-in information. After several calls, the Host said we had to contact the owner directly, but only gave us her number after we asked several times. She hadn't been told we were checking in, though she eventually gave us the key box code and arrived 15 minutes later to show us around. She also took €500 as a deposit, more on that later. The house is older and much darker inside than it looks in the online photos. The seats all have unattractive fabric covers, unlike the photos too. The kitchen is small but functional, though the dishes and cutlery were quite dirty and the stove and countertop were oily. The dishwasher often left a noticeable coating on things instead of cleaning them properly. Even on its highest setting, the built-in refrigerator barely cooled, and its doors, including the freezer door, didn't shut properly or would open on their own. There's another refrigerator in the living room that works perfectly, but it's simply too small for 9 people. Nearly every light inside and outside runs on motion detectors. It might sound modern, but it's really impractical when you can't control the lights, especially at night. The outside area is spacious, and the pool was the best part of the house. It's a salt water pool. The sun loungers were older and less luxurious than the online photos showed, but they worked fine. There were lots of games, recreational equipment, and tools, including barbecue gear, a pool net, and cleaning supplies. The large garden has olive, fig, pear, and cherry trees, and there's covered parking for 2 vehicles. The worst part was what happened after the first night. We all slept badly and felt like something was crawling on us. After 4 nights, we all had small red spots on our arms, legs, and necks. We thought it must obviously be bed bugs or bed fleas and contacted the owner. She seemed concerned about our health, but only offered to change the sheets and clean with vapor. We escalated it to AirBnB. The agent handled it quickly and very professionally, recommended we leave immediately, and said there was NO deposit to pay when booking through AirBnB. We wouldn't have spent another night there anyway. We then demanded the €500 back from the owner. She was agreeable, but didn't know anything about AirBnB and said she only dealt with the Host who marketed the place for them. He was her contact for everything. It gradually became clear that the Host, through his company, lists other houses on AirBnB in his own name and acts as a middleman. A really bad setup. AirBnB refunded the remaining days without complaint, and we found another place for the rest of our vacation. After many years of successful, very nice stays in houses in Croatia, this was our first extremely negative experience and it completely ruined our last week of vacation. Along with the costs for cleaning, disposal, and special cold treatment, we now have to write off a week of vacation.

A lovely, spacious house with a big garden and a clean pool.