Sally-Ash S.
Yelp
I think most of the 11 people staying here for the week were pretty happy with the place; however I'll give my own detailed appraisal.
There is plenty of space in the villa, many different living areas so even 11 people are not living on top of each other. Each of the guests rooms are large with their own bathrooms, there aren't any bad rooms. Some are pretty amazing, with the shower built into the rock face, and some bedrooms are also built into the rock face too.
The walk to get here from the town centre is a killer, even for young fit people. So I recommend that you stay in the villa as much as you can, or bring some good walking shoes! There is a bus / taxi option but neither can get you right down into the town centre (the beach), or right up to the villa. So even if you cut out the middle part of the walk, you're still in for some serious stairs! Having said that, once you get here, it's pretty amazing! Elderly people don't even bother unless you're not going to leave for your entire stay.
The family who owns the villa are super accommodating, and have a 'no problem is too big' attitude. There are 3 staff members who work here full time. One of the staff members can understand most English, the other 2 can't. I didn't find the staff particularly friendly (family owners aside). Not a lot of smiles. Not bad service, not great either, just mediocre. I wasn't happy when I saw the house keeper throw her hands in the air when she saw I had slept on the couch....because I woke up with an ant infested bed! I was meant to wake them up at 3am to deal with it then (and wake my room mate). Which brings me to my next point, they need a buzzer or call button to call staff when needed. At the moment they say to yell out, but most of us couldn't remember or pronounce their names.
A continental breakfast is provided, it could be significantly improved with little additional expense - it's pretty sparse. They could put a toaster out with some bread to toast, add some more cereals and put the milk jug in a bowl of ice so it stays chilled. The breakfast table is also not cleared regularly, so often left messy. With 3 full time staff, it shouldn't be difficult to keep it tidy.
Wifi works well, and there is good apple technology to play music through their speakers using your apple devise. They provide towels and make up the rooms nicely too. They also have a machine which produces still and sparkling water on tap, and a top quality ice making machine.
There are fridges you can take drinks out of for a fee, they are not super expensive, but if you want to save some dollars buy food and drinks from the local deli at the bottom of the driveway, and they will deliver it up to the villa for free (remember it's a decent hike from the bottom of the driveway).
The housekeeper can cook meals for guests. Restaurant prices, but admittedly, this lady CAN cook! It's pretty nice being served a 3 course meal on the balcony overlooking the Mediterranean sea. It's a must do on your stay.
We held a wedding reception here, and it ran very very smoothly. There were 60 guests and there was plenty of room. they did an excellent job. Though the waiters could have kept the drinks on the tables stocked a little better (now I'm getting picky...). There was a sewerage smell that would occasionally waft over the dance floor by the pool, hopefully this will be fixed soon. It was pretty faint and didn't ruin the night.
It was the most impressive setting for a reception I have ever seen though. Seriously amazing view from the villa.
The housekeeper will do your laundry which I thought was cool, but there will be a charge on your bill at the end. I thought this would have been a nice free value add for guests.
The group decided to tip, if I were to make a decision on my own I wouldn't have. I think the $14,000 per week price tag should cover the service we received.
This place is really impressive, we had a wonderful time, and I'm sure that future guests will also have a wonderful time. Having said that unless I'm with a group and we all want to live together, I will probably stay somewhere closer to town next time.