When we booked a four night stay recently in Tarifa, La Guardia apartments seemed a pretty perfect choice. Self-catering, right in the centre of the old town, in the middle of all of the action, contemporary and stylish judging by the photographs, and although not the cheapest option, did seem like a pretty good deal for the facilities on offer. So, we arrived, on a hot, hot Sunday, full of expectation for a relaxing stay in our concrete effect apartment…
(Photographs : Booking.com)
The apartments are let by what seems to be an anonymous management company, and this really only came to light after we had checked in. Communications prior to check-in had not led me believe we’d be dealing with a faceless company, but I did find one of their emails quite surprising, when I was advised, that under no circumstances, could we check-in before 5pm. Seemed a bit stern and inflexible, but we just went along with it. Self-check-in was OK – easy enough and sometimes we do like not to have to do small talk, but things started to go a little awry when we just could not get the air-con to operate. The wall mounted unit is clearly visible in the bottom left photo, above, and as we’d received no indication that anything was wrong with it, we continued to try and get it to turn on, as it was very, very warm in the apartment. Which, by the way, on first impressions was a lovely as the photos above suggested…
After about ten minutes, it was apparent that we were either doing something wrong or the aircon was just not going to play ball, and so I messaged “Paloma”, who had sent me lots of messages, including frequent reminders of the €80 cleaning fee. I’ll come back to this one later…
Whilst waiting for a reply, we decided to have a glass of wine. Not a huge issue, but there was only one wine glass – another message was sent to Paloma, asking if she could arrange for another glass. When you book an apartment for two people, for four nights, a second wine glass seems quite an obvious thing to expect, I think. Anyway, Paloma arrived and also brought a box of six new wine glasses. With seven glasses, we were now well set up and thanked her for bringing them to us. So, onto the aircon, as we asked her to show us what we might be doing wrong.
Oh, we weren’t doing anything wrong. “It is broken…” Sorry, Paloma, what was that you just said? In an apartment, where the outside temperature was in the high thirties, there is no aircon? And, in the flurry of emails and WhatsApps you had sent me, you didn’t think to mention this? Or arrange for us to be allocated an apartment where the aircon was working? According to Paloma, she couldn’t have alerted us to the broken aircon system, because it had just happened and although they had tried, they could not get an engineer to come out and fix it, because the necessary parts could not be located…
So, this made us scratch our heads. If it had just happened, how had they had already contacted an engineer? Who had alerted them to the fact that the aircon wasn’t working, as don’t forget, we couldn’t check-in in a minute before 5pm? How did said engineer know which parts were needed if no-one had been out to see it? And why weren’t we alerted to the fact it wasn’t working? Oh, and don’t let’s now forget it’s now about 5.30pm on a HOT Sunday afternoon in Tarifa, when all self-respecting aircon engineers will probably be at the beach, with family or having a beer. Come on, Paloma, you’re going to have to try a little harder than this!
And, to her credit, she did. She remembered that under the sink, in the bathroom area, was a mobile aircon unit and pulled it out for us, and stuck the plastic pipe into the beautiful concrete effect sink, so that the condensation could drip away. Hmmm…what about when we used the sink? You know, to wash our hands or brush our teeth? Oh, that’s not a problem, said Paloma, you can also wedge the white pipe out through the window. And yes, this had obviously been done before, by many guests, as the wedge shape of the open window, was very clear in the plastic pipe.
Aside from the ridiculous set up, we did question why a mobile air con unit, which had clearly been used A LOT, was ready and waiting for us – Paloma was not sure why. We went a bit back and forth with the whole situation, and as this mobile unit was very noisy and wasn’t reducing the temperature any, I asked that we be moved to another apartment, given that it was fairly uncomfortable and we didn’t feel that this particular one was fit for purpose. She didn’t think any other apartments were available but would go off and check with management. From our window we could see into another apartment, which by almost 7pm on a Sunday evening, still had no guests in it, and to be doubly sure, I checked on booking.com. And there we had it – an apartment which was available. So, we felt all would be resolved quickly and we’d be moved.
Not quite so, though. Paloma informed me by Whats App, that they had no availability. All apartments were booked. NO, they’re not, I told her. I’m looking into an empty apartment (although I did understand that guests could be checking into it later), but I’m also looking at at least one, available apartment, online. Can we not just move there and providing the air con is working, we’ll just then get on with our break? Leave it with me, she said, I need to check with management. More hanging around, but she finally came back and said yes, they had found an available alternative after all, but not until tomorrow, and could I just please cancel my original booking and re-book the new one? Oh, and I know you have booked for four nights, but when you move to the new apartment we can only accommodate you for two nights, not three, so you’ll have find somewhere else for the Thursday night. OK, not the best scenario as I had booked and paid for four nights – in total €520.52, so by my calculations €130.05 per night – meaning I would expect a refund of €130.05 for the fourth night. I think by this point Paloma, was keen to get on with her evening and not have to deal with me any more, so she conceded that the original apartment, was, as I said, “not fit for purpose” and that it should not have been let out, and we should have been informed and that other arrangements should have been in place. Unfortunately, this was all verbal – but at least she had agreed, if only to get rid of me. We would be able to move at 11am the next morning – *no sooner*! – and so we went out for the evening, and cooled down. Only to return and have a pretty sleepless night, due to the heat and the noise of the mobile air con unit.
Next morning we were up bright and early, eager to leave but also to make sure that the apartment was left in PRISTINE condition, as we did not want to fall foul of this piece of information, which we received when we booked, and which was reiterated in subsequent messages :
A damage deposit of EUR 80 is required on arrival. This will be collected by credit card. You should be reimbursed within 7 days of check-out. Your deposit will be refunded in full via credit card, subject to an inspection of the property.
Moving to the new apartment was smooth and it was a pretty cool apartment, both in terms of decor and temperature. The air con was working! Similar in style, but more natural in terms of styling and colour and with a comfortable dining table and chairs, much better suited to a self catering apartment. And, to add our increasing feeling of satisfaction, an email from booking.com popped into my inbox, with the subject “Refund”. Paloma had come good…
But the refund was for €51.66, significantly less than my calculation of one night, which I worked out to be €130.05! And, because of the issues we’d had the previous evening, and my growing feeling that this management company was not entirely guest focused, there was NO way I was going to let this go. So, back onto Paloma. To say she wasn’t overly delighted to hear from me, is something of an understatement. She was taking no responsibility whatsoever, for any of this, especially the refund – which I understood completely, as she was not management (as she kept reminding me) and so asked to speak to someone from management. Absolutely not. She simply could not do this. Guests are not allowed to speak to management, and in any event, the refund that had been issued, was it. Nothing more would be issued, even though she could not explain why the company were effectively keeping €78.39. Things, for me, took a bit of a turn, when out of curiosity I checked booking.com again, and there, right in front of me, was the apartment we had vacated not an hour earlier, back online for anyone to book and about €30 more than we had paid for the equivalent of one night. I was FURIOUS! Not only were they trying to retain some of my money, but if rented, the company would actually profit from letting out an apartment which I was pretty sure would still be unfit for purpose, with defective aircon.
So, to cut a long story short, I spent most of the rest of the early afternoon onto booking.com, explaining the whole situation. Multiple times on hold. Multiple times retelling the same experience. Eventually, I was advised that they would contact the company and could I stay on hold? Fifty minutes later and I was reconnected. They had been unable to speak to anyone from management – now, there was a surprise – but Paloma had admitted that things were not acceptable and that the additional refund could be made and should be in my account within seven days, but that I should call back tomorrow just to confirm that all was being processed. Hold on, but I thought Paloma couldn’t make decisions like this…
Next morning, back onto booking.com and even though they confirmed that they had all notes on my case file, I have to explain the whole thing again. And they have to call Paloma again, to confirm that refund will be generated. And I have to hold again – only for forty minutes this time though. And at the end of the call, could I please call booking.com again tomorrow, to confirm that all is being processed…
Luckily, and I have no idea who made this happen, just before I was about to call booking.com, I received a notification from my bank. Yep, the sum of €78.39 had just been paid. The shortfall! Hurrah.
So, we had one afternoon left in La Guarida apartment in Tarifa, rather than the four days of relaxation we had originally expected. Looking back, I think it could all been have dealt with so much better. Rather than bringing a box of six wine glasses, when the requested one would have sufficed, perhaps a bit more thought could have gone into addressing the issue of defective aircon, which made the stay on night one, very, very uncomfortable. The dishonesty though, both in terms of not being truthful about the problem and then the pathetic attempt to not return the full refund initially, for one night, is what infuriated me the most. Lesson learned though – book somewhere with a largely faceless company, and you’ll get a much poorer service. They think they will have nothing to lose, and probably on most occasions, they won’t as I think most people, on holiday, might give up and think they’ll deal with it on their return, and then don’t, because it’s happened. It’s over. But I won’t give up, when I know that something is fundamentally wrong and I am right. And that’s why I’d urge anyone looking to book a stay in Tarifa, don’t be fooled by the nice photographs and write-ups of this place. It’s not about guest experience – it’s about all fur coat and no knickers. Scratch the surface and the contemporary interiors aren’t all that. The decor isn’t as high end, as the photos might suggest. It’s all done to look high end. A bit like the €80 cleaning fee they blocked on my card (not taken though, as there was NO way we were going to give them the opportunity), it’s all about the money.
Avoid La Guarida. They don’t appear to like guests. Especially those with a legitimate complaint.
And, btw, we did find a FAB place to stay on the Thursday. A room in a turret in a medieval castle, high up in the mountains, no less. With air con!