8/10 Good
Debbie S., Canada
16 May 2023
Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy
Beautiful but beware
We stayed in this beautiful Trulli from May 6-12, 2023. The owner was very responsive and provided lots of details prior to our stay on the local area, restaurants, sight seeing, etc. The property manager was also very easy to communicate with and was in touch with us via WhatsApp to arrange meeting us at the house for check in and check out.
The property itself is stunning and exactly as advertised - lots of flowers and fruit trees. etc. We enjoyed eating alfresco under the ancient olive tree.
The one issue that we had, that unfortunately left us very disappointed is around the electricity and the pool.
Firstly - the owner will ask for a security deposit that is not identified in the listing and will tell you that the listing only includes 75Euro towards electricity for a week. We were surprised but felt that this should be sufficient for our group of 4 adults. They will take meter readings on arrival and departure and calculate your use. At the end of the week we were told that we had exceeded the electricity by over 200Euro. Needless to say we were shocked and very upset. We didn't leave lights on, didn't run the pool heater or hot tub, and only spent time in the Trulli in the evenings where we sat in the kitchen playing cards - no TV, computers, or anything else that would account for the electricity being so high. We later received an apology from the property manager indicating that she had miscalculated and we didn't owe any extra. I understand that mistakes happen, but feel that when we questioned the charge she should have rechecked the numbers rather than accusing us of misusing the electricity.
In hand with the electricity, and something we have never experienced before - we were shown how to turn on the hot water heater and told that we should turn it on only when we need to shower - and that it takes an hour for the water to heat up. At over $500 a night I don't feel it is unreasonable to expect to have hot water on demand.
Final issue is the pool. This property is marketed as having a HEATED pool, which is the main reason we chose it over others in the area. With the electricity limitations running the pool heater would have cost us a considerable amount. When we argued that the owner did agree to waive the fee. Unfortunately the guests before us had not reported that the pump wasn't working, and did not have the heater on so it would have taken 3-4 days to heat the pool before we could use it.
Debbie S.
Stayed 6 nights in May 2023