Holiday home for max. 12 adults + 1 child
Marbella- Artola Alta, Spanish mainland, (Costa del Sol), Spain

“We were a family of ten, covering three generations, the youngest being two years old.

There were many plus points but we have to be honest there were also some negatives to the villa. So the positives first:

The villa is very spacious and can easily accommodate up to 12 people
The pool area is great and afforded plenty of space both in and out of the pool.
The grassed area offered another opportunity for the little ones to play safely.
There are some excellent areas to eat, be that ice creams and snacks by the pool, a lovely family meal on the terrace in the shade or on the covered veranda.

There were downsides too and these included:

The villa could do with a little TLC and a lick of paint in places
The mattresses were not great
The villa could have been cleaner with dust gathering under the beds (See below)
A lot of the China was chipped
We struggled to get the air con working efficiently throughout the villa and the upstairs suite needed a separate unit but the hot from the unit needed to be pumped outside so necessitating the bedroom window being left open
We understood that we needed to pay €12 pp for bath towels and we assumed that would be 10 x €12 but we’re told that this was to cover the bedsheets as well so needed to pay for 12 as otherwise a 63 yr old would have had to share a room with her two year old great nephew!
Additionally we had to pay upfront a €250 fee for cleaning but the villa on our arrival did not reflect a good clean before we arrived!

Sort out some of the negatives and it would be a great villa!” “We were a family of ten, covering three generations, the youngest being two years old.

There were many plus points but we have to be honest there were also some negatives to the villa. So the positives first:

The villa is very spacious and can easily accommodate up to 12 people
The pool area is great and afforded plenty of space both in and out of the pool.
The grassed area offered another opportunity for the little ones to play safely.
There are some excellent areas to eat, be that ice creams and snacks by the pool, a lovely family meal on the terrace in the shade or on the covered veranda.

There were downsides too and these included:

The villa could do with a little TLC and a lick of paint in places
The mattresses were not great
The villa could have been cleaner with dust gathering under the beds (See below)
A lot of the China was chipped
We struggled to get the air con working efficiently throughout the villa and the upstairs suite needed a separate unit but the hot from the unit needed to be pumped outside so necessitating the bedroom window being left open
We understood that we needed to pay €12 pp for bath towels and we assumed that would be 10 x €12 but we’re told that this was to cover the bedsheets as well so needed to pay for 12 as otherwise a 63 yr old would have had to share a room with her two year old great nephew!
Additionally we had to pay upfront a €250 fee for cleaning but the villa on our arrival did not reflect a good clean before we arrived!

Sort out some of the negatives and it would be a great villa!” Comment from atraveo: We have forwarded the review to the provider for quality control.

“We were a family of 10, across three generations with three children five and under. The villa has some great points to it - a lovely pool area, great outside areas both in the shade and not and some particularly spacious areas. It is pretty well located, about a 12-15 minute walk downhill to most of the shops and restaurants and a further 10 minutes to a very Sandy beach. It’s just a €5/6 taxi ride back from the centre to the villa.

On the downside though there were a number of points where we surprised in view of the price we had paid. We have travelled widely across Europe and the USA and rented villas but were disappointed with the following:
After booking the villa we were surprised to find out that we needed to pay a €250 mandatory cleaning bill - we have always left a villa spotless
Additionally we had to pay an €8 per head bill for not just the bathroom towels but to include bed linen. Whilst there were 10 of us we had to pay for 12 or a 63 yr old “great aunt” would have had to share a room with a 23 month old! So €394 extra - be aware.
Several of the mattresses are past their sell by date
We struggled to get hot showers for everyone in the morning and had to stagger them. We tried to explain this via text and email with the local contact but received no assistance.
Whilst we had to pay for the cleaning bill there was considerable dust under some of the beds and one must ask what cleaning is done for €250.
On arrival there were no toilet rolls and no soap in any of the bathrooms! Never experienced that in any other villa!
We had the master suite on the top floor but the ceiling fan was very noisy with one light bulb not working. This suite has an additional portable air conditioning unit but the venting basically pumps hot air into the room. We therefore had to have the window open to lump out the hot air, reducing the unit’s effectiveness.
There was just one tea towel in the kitchen which for a villa of this size was crazy! It had certainly seen better days.
The rubbish bins are about 300 metres away so be prepared to take the daily walk climbing up the hill on the way back.
Quite a lot of the crockery was chipped.
Not too much of an issue for us but the villa is set on three floors with a lot of steps so we would not recommend for anyone with mobility issues.

It is a shame because as mentioned above the villa is spacious with a great pool area. It just needs TLC and be far more welcoming to its guests.” “We were a family of 10, across three generations with three children five and under. The villa has some great points to it - a lovely pool area, great outside areas both in the shade and not and some particularly spacious areas. It is pretty well located, about a 12-15 minute walk downhill to most of the shops and restaurants and a further 10 minutes to a very Sandy beach. It’s just a €5/6 taxi ride back from the centre to the villa.

On the downside though there were a number of points where we surprised in view of the price we had paid. We have travelled widely across Europe and the USA and rented villas but were disappointed with the following:
After booking the villa we were surprised to find out that we needed to pay a €250 mandatory cleaning bill - we have always left a villa spotless
Additionally we had to pay an €8 per head bill for not just the bathroom towels but to include bed linen. Whilst there were 10 of us we had to pay for 12 or a 63 yr old “great aunt” would have had to share a room with a 23 month old! So €394 extra - be aware.
Several of the mattresses are past their sell by date
We struggled to get hot showers for everyone in the morning and had to stagger them. We tried to explain this via text and email with the local contact but received no assistance.
Whilst we had to pay for the cleaning bill there was considerable dust under some of the beds and one must ask what cleaning is done for €250.
On arrival there were no toilet rolls and no soap in any of the bathrooms! Never experienced that in any other villa!
We had the master suite on the top floor but the ceiling fan was very noisy with one light bulb not working. This suite has an additional portable air conditioning unit but the venting basically pumps hot air into the room. We therefore had to have the window open to lump out the hot air, reducing the unit’s effectiveness.
There was just one tea towel in the kitchen which for a villa of this size was crazy! It had certainly seen better days.
The rubbish bins are about 300 metres away so be prepared to take the daily walk climbing up the hill on the way back.
Quite a lot of the crockery was chipped.
Not too much of an issue for us but the villa is set on three floors with a lot of steps so we would not recommend for anyone with mobility issues.

It is a shame because as mentioned above the villa is spacious with a great pool area. It just needs TLC and be far more welcoming to its guests.” Comment from atraveo: We have forwarded the review to the provider for quality control.