Quinta dos Vales

We spent 3 nights at Quinta dos Vales last August. The location is beautiful and the villas are really great, brand new and well-furnished. Unfortunately, the service was not in line with the level (and the price) of the accomodations. They claim is a “self-catering” place but I would call it a “self-service” place. They don’t have a real reception or a guest service. If you have a problem, you need to rely on the people working in the wine shop which is open only during regular office hours and is closed on weekends. If you need something after 6:00 pm or on a Saturday you are screwed. They give you a number to call but only for emergencies. On our first night we couldn’t open the sofa bed in the living room. Around 11:00pm we called the number and after one hour a service staff came to our villa and tried to fix it without success. After another hour (it was almost 1:00am) they came to bring a cot but we were dead tired by then and we ended up sleeping with the mattress on the floor. When we got up in the morning our bed was full of ants (by the way there were many ants also in the kitchen). The next day, we tried to complain at the reception. We asked to have a refund for all the inconvenience they created. They promised to give us a partial refund which I am still waiting for (and probably will never receive). We also asked to have an extra chair in the villa since we were 4 and there were 3 chairs in the villa. The guy at the wine shop took note and said he would report our requests but nobody called us afterwards and the extra chair never appeared. This is odd because we booked the villa for 4 people and we would have expected that the villa was equipped for 4 people. In summary, the place is beautiful, but they clearly lack experience in running a hospitality business which is quite different than running a winery. It’s a shame because the place has lots of potential. My only regret is that I paid upfront all the balance otherwise I definitely not have paid the full amount due.