Villa Mercan

The villa's condition was awful when we arrived in late September 2018, and there was no welcome from the management host. The dishwasher was full, the sun loungers were torn, kitchen cupboards were dirty, ashtrays around the pool were full, and a bedroom window had a dangerous crack running from floor to ceiling. I sent photos straight away to Helen, the owner, and she sent cleaners the next day. That seemed to upset the local management company, whose intimidating behaviour made the rest of our stay very uncomfortable. The pool boy was around all the time but refused to clean the hot tub, which had a thick coating of greasy scum. After a day out, we found a couple of doors unlocked even though we'd secured them before leaving. A ground-floor patio door wouldn't lock properly either, so we wedged a chair on a stack of books to stop the handle being opened from outside. At first Helen seemed understanding and offered us a meal at a local restaurant as an apology for the villa's state. Her sympathy didn't last, though. She wouldn't accept that Villa Mercan's management team was making us feel uncomfortable and sometimes scared. After we returned to the UK early, she emailed the manager about it. His reply was, 'if they thought my behaviour was intimidating they should have seen what I did/said to the man that got in my way last week'. That was a bizarrely unprofessional response. We left Villa Mercan three days early. We should have gone sooner, but kept hoping things would get better. We were offered a one-night refund, which we refused. The restaurant meal wasn't charged to Helen either, because the restaurant had to close partway through due to a storm. We laughed about it and took it in good spirits, given how things were going. This was the worst holiday I've ever had. I'd already been to Kalkan five times and stayed in wonderful villas that looked like the website photos, sometimes better. The photos of Villa Mercan must have been taken a long time ago, when it was in better shape, clean, and looked after by a management team that did its job properly. It took me months to write this because reliving the experience is stressful. I'm sharing it to let others know what happened. Check how recent the reviews are and how many there are before booking, and use a reputable site. I made the mistake of transferring money directly. I lost a lot of money on this holiday, but losing precious time off and being treated so badly by another business owner and woman was worse. I run a successful financial services business and take pride in my customer service. Villa Mercan's experience fell far short of even the one star I gave it. Kalkan itself is beautiful, and the locals are lovely. What happened at Villa Mercan thankfully isn't typical.

Such a lovely villa, with amazing views and lovely people!

The villa was excellent, and the views are stunning.