Casa da Luz

The villa is advertised as luxury and priced that way, but the facilities were basic and dated, and it needs a lot of maintenance. During our week, we had many problems, including no WiFi anywhere downstairs, broken and dangerous pool filters, missing cot mattresses, and stained, soiled, broken furniture. At first the host refused to deal with anything, saying no one else had complained so it wasn't a problem. After the first day they stopped replying altogether. We kept chasing the management company, and random maintenance workers turned up unannounced, let themselves in without introducing themselves, and rarely fixed anything. It felt intrusive and disruptive, and the constant chasing ruined our holiday. An old review describes so much of what we went through, while newer reviews on here and VRBO are strangely positive. After such a terrible stay, I strongly suspect those are fake reviews from friends and family. Anyone paying peak rates could only be extremely disappointed.

The villa itself is gorgeous, and the location and outlook would earn it a 5 from me. It's a shame the house isn't looked after to a higher standard. For the weekly price, we shouldn't have run into the issues that put such a damper on the start of our stay. The rental company's manager initially seemed uninterested and said no one had complained before, but eventually started helping to fix things. The guys who manage the villa were very helpful and completely agreed with what we were saying.

Wow, what a villa.

Amazing house.