Lovely views and location
7.0First, a quick clarification - this property no longer appears to be listed on booking.com since we stayed there last month? There are probably 12 apartments in the block - based on the map, another property "il terrazzo sul castello-rinnovato nel 2024" is listed on booking.com
What we liked
- the location is great, just near to the small beach for a swim, near the bus stop, and a relatively short walk to the main centre of the town.
- the small terrace and the amazing view of the old town on the hill, with the sounds of the sea. You can watch all the fishing boats buzzing into and out of the harbour, and presumably in mid-summer, the sunsets (though not quite in September).
- the help we got from Pietro, the property manager, prior to, and during, the stay
- the video for the check in, which explained in the absence of someone to meet us how to get in
− Prior to arrival, the client manager demanded much more information in advance than was necessary from the regulations.
When we arrived, there was a musty smell, like no-one had opened the doors and windows for a long time. This eventually cleared by leaving the doors and windows open, but you can't open the window in the bathroom and have a shower at the same time.
The accommodation guide didn't list things that a visitor might think about, like "where's the tourist information, where are the shops", etc, but focused on the many rules and regulations of the property, including a page of small print, giving the pre-determined charges for 26 forms of damage or other adverse behaviour. One was "disappearance or breakage of kitchen equipment (crockery, cutlery, glasses, pots pans - starting from €30" even though the individual items probably cost 1/10th of that price. Another of these was "damage to the property", or marking the walls, even though there was no acknowledgement that the walls were already marked. [in contrast, in another managed accommodation on the island, we broke a cup, and even though we offered to pay, the manager said "don't worry, these things happen"]. We felt our holiday relaxation was marred by the threat of potential extra payments
There was a disconnect between things that were provided, like tea bags but no kettle, and conversely a coffee machine that takes pods, but no pods. There's an iron, but no board to iron on, and a washing machine but no washing powder. There was a shortage of paper goods - no kitchen rolls and minimum toilet rolls. We actually had to take lots of sheets of paper from a restaurant's toilet on the last night, so that we had some for the final morning.
To be fair, we only stayed 2 nights, and I'm sure if we'd stayed longer, Pietro would have sorted things out.
