Appartamento Emma in Villa Laura

Best vacation we’ve ever had. The view was magical, and the pool and facilities were great. It’s 20 minutes from the Amalfi coast, with a sea view from every room and two balconies. Giorgio and the team were very kind and helped us with the bus and transport details. Thanks, we’ll be back!

Villa Laura is in a nice location, and the villa itself has beautiful views, but the repeated requests for more money put a real damper on our stay. We booked it in 2019, before Covid, for my daughter’s wedding, and finally came in July 2022. We paid about £6500 for one week for our family. Before we arrived, the owner asked for another £2000, saying his costs had gone up. We replied that our flight costs had also risen and we wouldn’t pay extra, and said we’d ask for a refund instead. He said we could discuss it when we arrived. When we got there on 2 July 2022, we were greeted and charged a somewhat inflated late check-in fee because our flight was late. We’d requested food to be left for us and paid for it on arrival. Then the owner raised the extra £2000 again and offered to meet us halfway. The pressure continued for several days, despite our clear answer. Frederica, the villa manager we met on the first day, also began texting my daughter to ask for more money. They then asked for my mobile number too, presumably to try to get me to pay. We stuck to our original position, but it became a spoiler for the holiday. Frederica didn’t appear again for the rest of the week. The pool hadn’t been cleaned for days and was covered in flies one morning, so we tried to clean it ourselves with a net we found. Wi-Fi didn’t work in two of the apartments for the first five days. At checkout, the manager was again absent. She sent a cleaner to inspect the rooms, and the cleaner said in Italian that four glasses were broken, which absolutely wasn’t true. Of our £500 deposit, only a pitiful 7 euro was deducted for that, but with a cleaning charge and the late check-in fee, we got just £30 back in total. It’s a shame. We felt neglected because we wouldn’t pay above the £6500 we’d already paid.

The accommodation was fantastic, and the owners were lovely. I can highly recommend it and will definitely be back.

Perfect.