Apartamentos Vale de Carros by Umbral

Arrived on Friday night at 1030pm - hotel paid for in full before arrival. The hotel was closed. There were two emergency phone numbers - we called both. The Uber drive, who was fluent in the language, also read the signs and made the calls. No answer. Rung off to answering machine. Walked around the place - there was no-one there. The place was like a building site. Pool taped off and no water in it. The paint was peeling off the walls. The site looked ready for demolition. At 11pm at night we had no choice but to pay the uber driver to take us around Albufeira to find a hotel for the night. We called back the next day to see what the problem was - still no-one there. This place is a complete scam.

We enjoyed a week in November 2024 where we were very lucky with the weather. A car rental allowed us excellent access to places we were keen to visit. Positive things to say Nice traditional buildings, with some attractive features, including marble kitchen surface and lovely tiles in lobby and kitchen Plentiful hot water always available Excellent shower Towels changed once mid-week Good parking. Reception helpful to a degree in addressing equipment requirements. Good restaurants quite close by Apartment clean. Negative things to say TV no English channels. And if we could watch anything, the sofa bed was pointing at right angles, and we are instructed not to move position of any furniture Sofa in fact was a single bed, very unsuitable as too deep and even a six-footer's feet did not reach the ground when sitting on it. No small table for resting drinks on No drinks mats available Round kitchen table but only large square plate mats Kitchen lacked: coffee making equipment, nothing to drain rice or pasta, no fish slice for cooking eggs, no non-stick pans, no wine glasses. Cooking was by means of a 2 old type electric plates cooker that took an age to warm up and then an age to cool down. Bathroom, offered only 2 of the poorest quality toilet rolls and an inadequate supply of shower gel. No ventilation so room and whole apartment quickly became damp and attracted mosquitoes, which were an issue every night. Ventilation was either open doors, where cats would wander in or with windows open and external shutters closed so completely dark. Had to pay 17€ for use of safe. Apartment in block of 4 and sounds travel very easily between them. We suffered from other people in our block returning at 4 in the morning every night and others who played music loudly. Only one black rubbish sack available. No oil or salt and pepper or other cooking basics available. Microwave and toaster positioned without access to electric sockets No Internet for two full days which seemed an unacceptable delay in sorting. It worked well when finally sorted. No information about TV, heating system, facilities, locality or things to do. Two copies of costs of replacement for any damage caused Ridiculous damages deposit required on check in.

Still no 200 deposi back absolutely shocking aswell as getting robbed by maid stay away ! 700 cash gone and today we noticed a gents watch of 250 gone aswell plain robbery watch the maid with glasses ! Absolute terrible attitude was told by receptionist that good cos watch went removed my last review !

AVOID ROOM WAS ROBBED BY CLEANER WITH GLASSES STOLEN £700 Whilst I was layed on sofa and seen her go in bedroom. BUT SHE SAID DIDNT IR COURSE SHE GUNNA SAY THAT NEEDED KEY TO GET INTO 2 doors and reception said maybe was someone else I think all k ow it is her I was showed a picture by management why not one of there other 10 cleaning staff DO NOT COME GETE ALL CORRUPT AND NOT TYE FIRST TIME APPARENTLY AND CAMERAS DONT WIRK NEITHER… MUCH NICER PLACES TO STAYI WILL PUR VIDEO UP OF THE THIEVING CLEANER TOMORROW !!!

Value for money. Small complex with lovely landscapes gardens and 2 lovely small pools (1 at each end of complex). Small bar serving snacks, coffees and alcohol. Limited hours though. Usually between 0930 and 2100. Some days closed at 1800 which was a bit frustrating. Lovely Carla on Receotion and great staff on the bar too.

We and various members of our family and friends have been holidaying in these apartments for over 20 years. So as you can tell from that we have always rated it highly and enjoyed staying here but unfortunately the recent takeover has been it's downfall. Despite bad reviews last year, we decided to give the new owners the benefit of the doubt and stayed here for 2 weeks. There was several things which gave us reason to complain and consider not returning but reassurances both from the owners and the managing agents that improvements had been made led to us rebooking to return this year. There were no improvements. We found conditions worse and had even more complaints. There are probably too many to list but:- 1. We don't like having to pay the deposit on arrival against breakages which we have never been asked to do before anywhere in the world. 2. The apartment was reasonably clean on check in and we were given a room in the area we had requested and were given, without cost, an earlier check in than the very late 16:00 standard check in time. 3. We did know there would be no use of the safety deposit box which seems ridiculous as they are in the rooms. This makes things difficult with travel documents, valuables etc that you end up having to carry around with you at all times. 4. The outside patio area of the ground floor apartment was full of weeds and needed sweeping which we did the next day having decided we couldn't sit there for two weeks looking at the state of it. 5. Our apartments were adjacent to the second smaller swimming pool, the surrounding area of which we never saw being cleaned at all or the bins emptied. One day a chap appeared with a net and spent precisely 4 minutes cleaning the pool. The shower area was absolutely disgusting and was never cleaned at all in the whole two weeks. The sun loungers, of which there were only 8 of to start with, one was broken, one the cover was torn. They were all filthy dirty. Two of these were taken away after we had been there a week leaving only 6 for all of the people staying there. We did mention this at reception and we were told they would move some from the main top pool down, this never happened. There was only 18 at the main pool and they were also dirty. 6. During our stay we should have had 3 towel changes, one every 4 days. One change of sheets after 7 days, none of these changes were done without us going to reception the following day to complain that these hadn't taken place. There is no room cleaning done during the duration of the holiday and you are expected to keep it clean yourself. 7. There are obviously workmen/business men staying on site. One night two transit type vans were taking up 6 of the parking spaces outside. There are also in at least two of the apartments people living full time. All of which takes away the holiday feel of the place. 8. One very pleasant friendly female on reception who was very helpful and spoke very good English. Another