Algarve Vacation Anmeldelser 

My family and I had an amazing time. The company that manages the property was very attentive and made great recommendations. Thank you for everything!

Amazing experience with Algarve Vacation and Olivia Grimes.
Will use their services soon
The property was pristine
Thank you so much

Great communication with host
Easy check in and great location

Great holiday!
We had an amazing time in the Algarve. The villa had everything we needed, was very spacious and close to restaurants and supermarket. We would love to come back.

11 adults, 6 nights - a great time at Villa Samoa. Really enjoyed the outdoor pool and patio area. Easy walk to multiple beaches, restaurants, and grocery stores.

We stayed at Villa Oliveira with our Family ( 7 adults and 5 children) over October half term. The accommodation is of a high standard with sufficient in all respects - rooms, seating, dining, cooking etc. The swimming pool and Jacuzzi were fantastic and we were glad that we had paid extra for heating. Our children -6 to 12 years stayed in, seemingly, for hours.
The walk to the town and beach were short and provided that which we needed. There is a good Supermarket a shortish distance away.
We were able to visit local tourist spots within about a 30 minute drive. The youngsters really enjoyed ZooMarina.
Altogether a great break in October

Excellent villa (Coral Bay). We had issues with a flashing light and air con units not working. The flashing light and one air con was only rectified after my continual persistance in the second week of our two week stay. The other air con unit was never repaired. The main contact agent OG barely replies to any emails. She did not respond to my emails about the flashing light and faulty air con units. Another agent SC gave me the contact number for maintenance. I too was contacted by a scam text demanding payment of the deposit way before our arrival. I contacted OG to see if it was a scam and it took hours for her to reply, luckily another contact SC replied instantly to say it was a scam. Algarve Vacation data is definitely compromised because the scam text knew my name, date of arrival, villa name and booking reference number. Algarve Vacation took the deposit for the villa from my credit card about 3 weeks before our arrival which was actually debited rather than a pending transaction as properties usually do. They were supposed to refund the deposit 4 weeks after our departure pending review of our usage. They contacted me to say they were delaying the refund because of damage we caused. They accused us of damaging a parasol and table. The parasol was damaged on our arrival and there was no damage to any table. It was only because my son was vigilant in videoing the property before and after and my saying that I was going to highlight my concerns with Vrbo who I had originally booked the villa through. At this stage they refunded the deposit within a few days in full (£777) without an acceptable apology for the stress they caused and without seeing the video evidence . Beware of this as other travellers have reported a similar situation of being accused of causing damage and getting fraudulent texts demanding payment. I would not book with them in the future for this reason. Other villas we have stayed at take the deposit as a pending payment within a week of arrival and it is refunded within a week of departure.

Beautiful spacious villa exactly as described. Looks nothing from the street but a hidden gem. Pool area gorgeous. Very peaceful. Shop a couple of minutes walk away. One Irish bar 3 mins away or top of strip 5 or 6 mins away although main strip is around 10mins. Great communication from agents. Really well equipped!

We stayed at the villa with our family. We really enjoyed it. The villa was beautiful, clean, and there was plenty to do for the whole family. The contact with the host was very Nice. The responses were quick and helpful.

We recently visited one of the properties looked after by Algarve Vacation over the October half term break.

Even before arriving at the villa I was receiving payment demands for the balance from Algarve Vacations via email despite having paid in full via Airbnb. I was told that this was a scam but to rest assured there was no data leak. The villa itself was lovely and very clean, but overall quite tired and dated. We were charged £185 per week to heat the book, and although we booked the villa via Airbnb the payment for the pool was paid directly to Algarve Vacations (don’t do this if you want support from Airbnb with disputes). Unfortunately the pool developed an issue half way through our two week stay, I contacted the hosts but unfortunately it escalated creating what can only be described as a swamp. Again we contacted the organisation and asked for a partial refund on the pool heating bill considering it had become unusable and had clearly not been cleaned as would ordinarily be expected. It was honestly so bad had I allowed my young children to swim in it it would have been at a risk of serious illness; there were insects living in the pool!! I am still awaiting Olivia’s response after speaking with the host; although she was able to contact me to request a £97 reimbursement for an outdoor plastic side table that we did not break and for an outdoor plastic chair which had clearly been so severely sun damaged it broke when my 11 year old daughter sat on it. Thankfully she was as unharmed.

Communication has been shocking following issues at the property and unfortunately Airbnb only allow reviews up to 14 days after check out, it seemed unjust to leave a review in the midst of a dispute but as the resolution is that I pay £22 for the broken chair and Algarve Vacation are asked again by Airbnb to look into the pool heating fees I now feel it is time to leave a fair and truthful review of our experience.

Wish we had not booked with Algarve Vacation. Three of us stayed in Villa Los Angeles in the October half term. Since we returned home, Algarve Vacation have refused to refund our €850 security deposit claiming damages that we did not make to a coffee machine, freezer drawers and window blinds. We did not even use the coffee machine, only the kettle and yet they claim the drip tray has gone missing. We used the fridge but not the freezer. The blinds they claim we damaged were in a bedroom that we did not use (it was made up with four single beds and we used the other double room with ensuite). In fact, we emailed them first to let them know we had noticed the blinds were damaged in that room.

Please beware as other reviewers on this site have reported experiencing similar dishonest behaviour (some for blinds and fridge/freezers as well) from Algarve Vacation.

We have raised this as a dispute/chargeback claim with our credit card provider which is now being investigated by Mastercard. The bank have temporarily refunded our deposit in the meantime and now Algarve Vacation have 45 days to respond. I have also reported the company through official routes: Tameside trading standards (via the Citizens Advice Bureau) and the police (via Action Fraud).

Update 4 Dec in response to the reply from Algarve Vacation: we did not say at all, never mind repeatedly, that we would leave a review on Trustpilot. What we did say in our emails was that we had noticed there were numerous other reviews on Trustpilot of customers experiencing withheld deposits for damages they did not make. And that we took this to be a pattern of fraudulent behaviour and that we would report it to local trading standards, which I have done. The photos that have apparently been verified by the owner are false. We did not cause any damage to the villa. I would not go to the lengths of reporting Algarve Vacation to trading standards or the police if we had. I have left this review so other customers hopefully can avoid having a similar experience as us.

The accomadtion was very clean and had everything we needed. A great location too.

Alles was, zoals wij al eerder ervaren hebben, goed georganiseerd.
Op tijd konden wij de sleutels gebruiken en waren alle ruimtes prima schoongemaakt en ook de jacuzzi stond gebruiksklaar.

Before booking I had read some worrying reviews that had been posted, mostly about deposits being withheld for damage that renters say they did not cause.

Anyway in July I booked Villa Santa Rosa in Armacao de Pera for my family, 14 of us for October. A couple of weeks after after paying my deposit and entering my personal information, including passport details and that of a couple of other family members, on the villa check-in website, I was contacted by someone impersonating Algarve Vacations asking me to verify my credit card details again the ensure my booking would be secured. They also had all the details of my booking. I contacted Algarve Vacations about it and got WhatsApp response advising me to block the number. Clearly a data breach had occurred which I wasn't informed about and was later told that we had to resubmit all our personal information again on another website.

Then 3 weeks before the booking I received a message from Algarve Vacations informing me that most of the facilities at the villa including the jacuzzi's, sauna and ice bath are no longer available due to a technical problem and had been removed. By this point the family are beginning to feel anxious about the whole booking.

Anyway we arrived in Portugal and was met by the transfer agent who took us the the welcome center as agreed. We were later taken to the villa, which was great and would have been amazing if all the facilities had been available. Nevertheless it was modern, well furnished, well equipped and spacious enough for 14 of us, all the bedrooms were comfy. The pool area was great with loads of loungers and two large BBQs.

Martin visited on day one to check we had no issues and was very helpful in providing information about the local area.

I was constantly mindful of the reviews that I had read about the deposit being withheld because of damage so we all spent the first 30mins trying to find all the faults and videoing all the rooms. We did find a couple of issues - sink in the kitchen was blocked and broken tiles in the pool floor exposing sharp edges. The issues were reported with pictures, they were acknowledged pretty quickly but not dealt with during our stay. Then on the evening before our booking ended I get an email warning that any rubbish left in the villa, when we leave, would result in the deposit being retained. Although this didn't cause us an issue as we were removing our rubbish on a daily basis, I can see how some people would get caught out on the last day.

My deposit was returned 2 weeks after the booking. Not sure why it should be taken 2 weeks before the booking and returned 2 weeks after the booking.

Anyway the family had a great end of summer vacation. The villa was great, the location was perfect for shops, restaurants and the beach. We even managed to do a day trip to Lisbon on the Flix bus, with no hassle at all.

If i could suggest two improvements,

- Provide renters with a check-in damage report.

- Take the damage deposit one week before check-in and return it one week after checkout.

When it's all said and done, I would book with them again.

Absolutely terrible!
The worst service we have ever had from a rental company and we rent villas several times every year.
Communicating with Algarva Vacation is like communicating with a 14 year old. No service, No politeness, No nothing.
Several things in the villa was broken, a shower Door was missing. One shower was so low you had to be a Child to fit under it. No change of towels - the told us to go to the unoccupied rooms and take the unused towels from there. TV were not working, neither was the stove. Upon complaining their reply was that they never before had Any complaints. Ehhh....?
An absolute discrace of a company! Do not rent from Them.

Algarve Vacations were generally very good as a company. Communication with them was always quick and they responded to any issues promptly. The Villa we stayed at had obviously been photographed several years before as looking back at the photos the villa is quite different now. There is an exercise bike and a running machine left at the property that obviously haven't been used in many years and need moving, similarly a pile of rubbish at the back corner of the garden. The kitchen has no baking trays to use in the oven, we tried to cook pizza after deciding to stay in one night and there was nothing to use but a glass pyrex dish. It is also overrun with ants, don't leave anything sweet out overnight. The sink in the downstairs bathroom is leaking and has been leaking for a while as you can see all the water stains and mould underneath it. The floor in the toilet is always wet. The furniture in general is quite old and tired but the villa is in a good location and within walking distance of local supermarket and several restaurants/bars. The heated pool (costing extra) was well worth it, a lovely area that gets sun all day. Two of the external doors are missing handles and several of the windows don't lock shut so if you go out you have to put down the external electric shutters. A lot of the bedding is marked, similarly the towels are thin and past their best. You get one bath towel and one hand towel per week. There are no pool towels. The pool umberellas are covered in tape and string holding them together, I could go on. This isn't particularly Algarve Vacations fault, it is the owners. A little money spent on small things would go far in this villa. It is Algarve Vacations fault that they show the villa in a different light than the condition the villa is really in, that is why I gave them three stars and not more. Finally, I am still traumatised after seeing the stains on the mattress after the sheet came loose overnight in the master bedroom. If you can't change the mattress at least get mattress covers. Not really acceptable. I don't know how long it's been since Algarve Vacations have visited the villa we were in but I think perhaps they should update their website.

Before arrival, tell tail signs were there. Deposit taken far too soon, ominous forms, lots of automated Comms, etc. On arrival, the address provided wasn't the address we were staying at, so after waiting hours since the flight to check in, were sent to the wrong address. Several calls later, we were at the right address, and then it began, from filthy floors to cockroaches, blood on towels to fault dishwasher, it was abysmal. Feel the need to document everything faulty with the place, which was endless as new issues found daily, just to get the deposit back. Left the place in a better state than when arriving. Definitely wouldn't stay with this company again and strongly advise against it. Also, blocked toilets and shower drains are no fun.

Ahh where do we begin. The photos of Villa nespereria do not look like what you get in real life. The place is so dated. We had a problem with the drains and it smelt absolutley rotten, when you flush the toilet a ton of crap comes up through the shower drain and then the bathroom floor floods. Ants in the kitchen.

We saw cockroaches on the first day downstairs and on the top floor. We were told that this is normal due to the temperature, having lived in a hot climate for years before - this is not true. Absolutley vile.

The floor had not been mopped, you could see drink stains on the floor and dust on every surface.
Cracks in the shower, one door had clearly been punched through, peeling headboards and stains everywhere.
This place is so dated and desperatly needs a revamp. Didnt touch the bbq outside, looks hideous. On the plus the pool was nice for the kids to enjoy.

If you are a group of lads on a holiday with no care for hygeine then this probably works for you. If you have a family and like sanitry conditions then avoid this place at all costs. A lesson to always check reviews before booking elsewhere in the future.

We stayed at Villa Del Pescador. The property is lovely. The location could not have been better. Small town feel with a short walk to Old Town Albufeira, where there are lots of dining and shopping options. Our contact, Olivia Grimes, was EXTREMELY responsive, quickly addressing any questions we had. We would absolutely book here again. The Algarve is my new happy place!

At Villa Gamboa a jacuzzi is not a jacuzzi and a bathtub with jets is simply a regular bathtub.

The jets weren´t working neither in the jacuzzi nor the bathtubs with jets.
Upon contacting Algarve Vacation they told us this was due to both the jacuzzi and the bathtub with jets being normal bathtubs.

The logic being, when jets doesn´t work jaccuzis and jet-bathtubs becomes regular bathtubs and therefor you can not require the jets to work. Makes perfect send, right :O)

So when you see the pictures of the jacuzzi´s at this property, please be aware they are not jacuzzi´s they are regular bathtubs.

Several TV´s didn´t work, dishwasher did not clean the dishes properly and the stove had a glitch so it was very difficult to turn on.

Staff not nice to communicate with.