Casa Carmen

There were so many issues that should never have happened with basic, consistent maintenance. For example, the broken air conditioning unit upstairs that led to one of our party becoming unwell from overheating. This subsequently led to loss of wifi because the receptor was disturbed during the repair to the AC. Eventually, we discovered that only the upstairs bathroom had any hot water (three of us were embarrassed to complain thinking that we could just make do.). It just was not the standard we'd expect for a villa of this level. That said, the villa itself is lovely and the gardener / pool team were exceptional. Everyone we dealt with directly at Solmar was helpful and very responsive. Note about cleanliness: the cleaning ladies did a very good job. My reason for giving only 4 is that the state of the air conditioners was very unsanitary and unacceptable.

Excellent location, good size pool and garden. Kitchen a bit small and could benefit from updating but otherwise really pleasant stay

Where do I start? ** Kitchen - space by the oven is far to restricted, resulting in a burn on my right hand. The cupboard draws are missing half the handles so you have you pull the draws out by the edging of the draw fronts to get to the utensils. It's small and compact kitchen. Cupboards are higher than normal and difficult to reach for a standard 5ft4 as youve got to stretch over 3 tall standing fridge freezers!!!!! 3 was excessive - glasses and bowls are kept up there. ** All downstairs bedrooms - electric tripping regularly or lights flicking if the air con was being used by atleast two rooms at once. Lounge - the space does not make sense. Old tv. As soon as we got there remote battery's were dead, when you are about to embark on a 11 night stay with 3 kids, it's not ideal! ** Double bedroom ensuite downstairs - after a few days we woke up, noone hadn't used the toilet, only one person used the shower and the smell of sewage was horrific. Throughout the bedroom and ensuite. Closed the doors and opened the window. Called Solmar who "sent someone out to investigate" who didn't arrive. ** Washing machine - doesn't spin your clothes properly and comes out sopping wet! ** Bathroom to ensuite upstairs, unable to open window dues to the bars. No ventilation which cause very slippy tiles. 3 days after the episode of potent sewage smell downstairs, it return with avengenous to the upstairs bathroom which you could smell all the way from the living room downstairs. Being unable to open the bathroom window it didn't pass for 2 days at the end of our stay. ** hot water throughout the property was hard work. Didn't pull through much downstairs, it was rare, even with turning on other taps as advised in other bathroom. Bathroom upstairs is much more consistent with hot water. ** Workers - No welcome book to advise as and when cleaners, gardeners and pool guy would be arriving. Pool guy arrived out of the blue with my children in the garden which scared them, given they were used to nothing or noone in the surroundings. The gardener came speeding down the driveway at 8am, wheel spinning which woke the whole household  and remained at the property until 8pm thay night and the cleaners arrived mid week, who did do a great job of cleaning and removing the rubbish. Had we known the days we they were arriving we would of been more aware of what to expect. With the pool guy arriving first and the gardener arriving the next day, all garden waste ended up in the pool for the rest of the stay! Shutting up at nighttime was a chore, although it was for our own safety. Closing the windows then the white security gates and shutters felt like we were in the plague at 8pm at night time because there was no gates around the property. The property was very open to forest areas. All the security precautions made us feel uneasy at times. Especially with very young children. All in all, we stayed 10 days in the end, for our family holiday. It was quite and peaceful most of the time despite all the issues within the house. Definitely would benefit from modernising, it is very dated but overall the size of the house was good. Definitely would request an information booklet regarding people arriving, where to put the fill bin bags who to call in emergency etc.