Apartamento Deluxe Oldtown 30 by Portugalferias

The balcony view really was magnificent, and the apartment was very spacious. Those were the good parts. We were looking forward to staying because of all the praise for the view, but the problems started at check-in and continued inside. I'd told the managers the day before that we might arrive a little early. They wouldn't let us check in early, and asked me to call or text 30 minutes beforehand. I did. Once there, I texted again and was told to call another number, different from the one on Booking.com. They said someone would arrive in half an hour. At 4:00 PM, the scheduled check-in time, we were still waiting, and the manager told us to wait another 30 minutes. They argued with me, were rude, then hung up. No one came after 30 minutes, 40 minutes, or 50 minutes. Every time we tried to reach them, they said to wait another 5-10 minutes. We'd arrived in the city at 3:20 PM, which I'd already told them. We finally waited until 5:10 PM, when I started calling Booking.com support. A couple of minutes later, a manager came to check us in. Apparently the apartment managers hadn't seen our message in time, and only alerted him while he was checking in other guests. The man who checked us in was fine, apologized and tried to make things right, but the managers' service was very poor. Inside, the apartment smelled awful, like someone had smoked there for decades. The bedroom smell was so strong we couldn't sleep there. It might have been cigarettes, old clothes, or both. Opening the windows didn't help. Within a couple of hours the smell had got into my things, and I could smell it on myself. The furniture was very old and worn, too. The water, hot and cold, was shut off at different times during the day, with no advance warning so we could prepare. When we contacted them, they said it was due to work by the mayor's office and apologized. Luckily, the water came back. There's a pool downstairs, but the water was too cold for swimming. The listing said the apartment had heating and cooling air conditioning, but this fourth-floor unit had none.

The price was good, and the rooms were nice. We stayed for just two nights in December, and the nights were chilly because the air conditioning didn't work. No one came to check on us, which was a shame. Apart from that, I'd recommend the place. There was a 100€ deposit.