Advice please, villa isn't a villa

Coosh

Hi hoping someone can give me some advice. We are currently on holiday in Spain..arrived tues...staying at a villa we booked via owners direct site..and booked our flight separately..so it's not a package. We have been looking forward to this for almost a year. We booked a lovely villa for our family of four, it was a little more than usual but looked really nice, three bedrooms and its own pool however when we arrive only the bottom floor is ours..and the pool..the owners live upstairs which is a seperate apartment. They say they keep out of the way and they mostly have but they are still there and nowhere in the advert does it say this. It is described as a villa and a house not a ground floor apartment. The accommodation is nice inside but I feel really let down. I haven't made a fuss as they have £100 breakage deposit I would like back and I don't want to make our stay unpleasant but just wonder where I stand. The property is clearly not described honestly. I would not have booked it had I known it wasn't the whole property, nor would I have paid this price for an apartment. The owners are English and they must have seen I was shocked and i asked if it was only the downstairs and they just said yes we live upstairs but we respect your privacy and will stay out of your way unless you need us..which is all very friendly had they told us that when we enquirer originally and before we booked.i have been back on the site and the villa is still on and I have re read it incase I had missed something..even tho I knew I hadn't..but no, there is no mention of it being downstairs only

[Deleted User]

Well, you've said the property is nice and the owners upstairs have mostly kept out of the way and you're there and the sun is shining.

Put it down to experience and get on with enjoying your holiday otherwise this is going to gnaw away at you and ruin your stay.

Spirit_2

I agree with chalking it down to experience. Enjoy the holiday otherwise you will only waste all you have spent and your time.

When you return if you still feel the ad is misleading can you post a review that explains how the property did not meet your expectations ?

We once rented a villa near Florence ( before internet marketing) which really turned out to be a share of the owners Palazzo. Not quite as expected but it turned out fine.

budgetflyer

Not nice.
Were there not any reviews prior to you booking?
If not, you can be the first.
We have all stayed in places that didn't quite live up to our expectations. Had it my self this year.
Life goes on.

mgdavid

what exactly are you not getting ? do you have less bedrooms? do the owners use the pool? etc

littlereddevil

What a con. A villa is a villa, an apartment is an apartment

mcc100

littlereddevil wrote: »

What a con. A villa is a villa, an apartment is an apartment

I completely agree.

We have booked a villa in Spain later this month and know how disappointed we would feel if we found it to be how you have found yours.

We always try to book somewhere that has lots of reviews, just so that we get a feel of the place beforehand.

I assume there were no reviews on this one.

I'm not sure if you're allowed to post a link to it, but it would be interesting to see the villa/apartment on the Owners Direct website.

Coosh

Hi thanks for the replies. There are a few reviews but just saying lovely villa, nice location etc..no one mentions it which I find very odd..we can't be the only ones who were expecting a Villa when we paid for a villa.
What we aren't getting is privacy. When you book a villa on a hillside that's what you want. The owners are keeping out the way but they are still there and there is a certain amount of noise with someone living above you on tiled floors. Also the lovely balcony overlooking the lake and pool that I had looked forward to chilling on isn't ours. One of the photos on the site shows a nice pagoda area with a dining table..not ours either.
I don't want to rock the boat while we are here as it could be very unpleasant as.they are living above us. I don't mind giving the property number once I'm home if you want to have a look..if I'm allowed to.i don't think there's anything I can do about it for us but would like to stop other people.being misled and disappointed in the future x

Dunroamin

There's no particular definition of a villa and it sounds as if you're staying in one, albeit not all of it; it also doesn't sound as if the accommodation is what the Spanish would describe as an apartment.

Could you give a link to the Owners Direct so that other people could judge
whether the ad is misleading.

prowla

If I rented a villa I would expect exclusive use of the whole villa, not half of it with the owners free to hear everything that goes on and to overlookthe pool and so-on.

katepnlo

I wouldn't be happy. Not sure about what you can do though, I haven't heard of this happening before. Do you have a link we can see?
We holiday in villas. We like the privacy. That is a big part of it! To find myself in your position..well that would suck. Yes it may be lovely..but you paid for a villa. I would want a villa. All my own. I'm not sure I could relax properly