Albufeira Crystal by Homing

We had a fantastic weekend in this spacious villa, which had all the facilities we needed. It's out of the way, so we could play music until the early hours without complaints. Albufeira was a 10-minute taxi ride away, and Uber was cheap enough. It works well for families as well as hen and stag dos.

I say avoid these people and their accommodation. Weeks after our stay, they charged my card hundreds of euros for supposed damage without contacting us. They took €310 directly, and my bank fortunately froze it. They never sent photos or contacted me, so there was no claim for me to dispute. We left the place immaculate and nothing was damaged while we were there. Their response didn't even say what had supposedly been damaged. Photos with timestamps wouldn't prove when damage happened, since several things were already damaged before we arrived. It feels like they charge guests for old damage. The place itself was cheap, full of IKEA furniture and generally filthy, with no security. None of the doors, bathrooms or rooms had locks, and the ensuite door wouldn't even close. The air conditioners were noisy, too small for the space and didn't work properly. The BBQ looked like something had died in it. The front door took 15 seconds to open, which was frustrating after a long day. It wasn't a security feature, just a cheap, noisy, slow lock that seemed easy to hack. Beds were tiny and uncomfortable, and the lighting was so poor you could barely see, probably to save money. They don't seem to care about guests' safety or security. Stay away.

We rented the dated 'Mar' apartment from 'Check in Portugal' at the end of August 2025. It had old furniture and bedding, a small kitchen with a drain smell, and no hot water for three days. 'Check-in Portugal', the manager, eventually got that fixed, but the service was poor for what we paid. They also required a 250 euro deposit even though we booked through Airbnb, then kept 18 euros for missing pool passes, just bits of card, without explaining why until we asked. From other reviews, it seems this happens a lot, keeping part of the deposit for the smallest reasons. The check-in process was painfully slow. Paying the deposit took ages because the payment links and website kept failing, even after we tried several cards. This was at midday, so arriving later at night could be a real problem. I wouldn't book a holiday home from 'Check-in Portugal'.

The apartment was decent, if nothing special, and the balcony was fantastic. Our towels were changed every three days or so by a different company. We had no personal contact with the host, Check-in, and dealt with them only by message. A couple of weeks after we got home, another company, Swikly, which holds security deposits using your card details, emailed to say Check-in was keeping €100 for a dent in an ordinary fridge. When I asked for photos or other proof, they told me to contact Swikly, since they were handling it. It seemed dodgy, especially as we'd left the apartment just as we found it. I'd avoid this host. While we were there, I heard other customers mention bed bugs. If even one gets into your luggage, your home could suddenly be infested, which would be incredibly stressful for a family.