Bardolino, Villa Olivo

I read a previous review from an Irish family about this the day before we flew out to Villa Olivo and I wish I had read it before I booked.

I can echo just about every word posted by that family, in fact even more.

We had no camp bed so I went to reception, we were actually in a separate apartment building 300 yards down the road, with a little pool that was shared amongst 7 other apartments (most of them were owned by local Italians) more of this pool later. At the reception they speak no English, the daughter is learning, they charged me €120 and said they would deliver the cot, I trudged back to my room and my wife informed me that this was wrong as we had paid for 5 people, when they brought the cot I tried to explain this, but they couldn't understand, so we rang the rep who was lovely and she said she would ring them. We met the rep in reception the following morning and after an argument with the owners she got our money back.

Later that day we came back to the room and the cot had been replaced with a camp bed, and we had a little note left in broken English asking us NOT to leave the electric on! The fridge had been turned down and someone had pulled all the cables out of the TV and taken the scart lead rendering the TV useless (not a big deal for us, but petty to say the least) and not what you expect especially as it's advertised as having sky TV and a phone which we now had neither.

Like the first family we just wanted a chilled out break, we have been 4 times to this region and stayed in others apartments without any issues.

Next day we wandered up to the hotel pool, my wife went to the reception to ask for an umbrella shade and she was told we were not allowed to use that pool! I was fuming and went and called the rep, the small pool outside our apartment was a bonus, but not what we expected as our only pool and it says in the brochure that we have all the uses of the main hotel.

The rep rang the hotel and called me back apologising and said it was OK to use the hotel pool. My wife wasn't keen on going back because it was really stuffy round the pool; any sound was greeted by disgusted looks from some of the other childless residents. Plus obviously the embarrassment the first time, but we had paid a lot of money and the small pool was not sufficient.

So we returned the next day, there were kids in there with inflatables so we went to buy some for our girls (aged 3, 13 and 16). When we got in the pool with them and started playing about (as you do on holiday) the lady owner rushed out and told us to get them out of the pool. Everyone did except me, I ignored her and she ran of, I paddled my Lilo to the edge, just in time to see the husband behind a tree. I climbed out and gestured for him to ring the rep, he went mental and started shaking his fist and smashing his fist into his hand, then he left.

I was livid by this point and once my wife calmed me down we went to ring the rep, I told her we did not want to stay here.

The rep couldn't do much, as everywhere was full so I calmed down and the rep saw the owners and everyone apologised.

But from that point on we never went near the main pool or the reception, we didn't let it ruin our holiday but it could have.

I truly hope we don't come across as some family of 'chavs' who would have found "bovver" wherever we went. We have never ever ever had any trouble any where and we have been to most other places. My daughters are just normal kids who want to play in a pool and have fun, whilst we soak up some sun and read.

We found that someone (we set little 'traps', sad - but funny for us) kept coming in when we were out, turning the fridge down. When we came to leave we were genuinely worried that they would find some excuse not to repay the deposit, but they paid it all. When we left we vowed never to return there again. I am also going to complain to Ingham's, because what we got was not what was advertised,

To anyone who is thinking of going to Italy, go! We adore it, so much that I am learning the language, but I advise you to avoid the "Olivo".

Let me first explain what type of holiday my family and I like, then I will explain the Villa Olivio accommodation, and lastly I will tell you of our experience of the Villa Olivo in Bardolino Italy (Lake Garda).

We are a family of 2 adults and three boys aged 9, 12 and 14. Our holidays are very simple. We go to an apartment, relax, enjoy the food, swim in the pool and soak up the sun, and that is it. (Sounds boring, but after a long hard working year it is just what the doctor ordered). That is what we wanted from this holiday as well.

The Villa Olivo consists of two types of accommodation: self-catering and a hotel which offers bed and breakfast. Those in the apartments could avail of the breakfast at a cost of 8 Euros per person, but after seeing what was being bought in the local Lidl for breakfast, we were put off from having any during our 2-week stay. The grounds around the accommodation are well kept and have good quality olive trees, palm trees and grape vines. In the grounds there are two swimming pools: one 20 metres by 10 metres, and it goes from shallow to about 2.5 metres, the other is a children's pool and it is shallow, about 0.3 of a metre. There are 40 beds around the pool.

We choose the Villa Olivo as it offered us the accommodation we wanted, which was a single apartment. In actual fact, the apartment consisted of 4 rooms and two balconies. The main room was large and included the kitchen and living area; there were two good-sized bedrooms and a small bathroom. The toilet was in front of a window and in open view to the whole world, which was of some concern to all of us. The kitchen area had good facilities, included a cooker, oven, fridge and all the cups, saucers, pots and pans etc. The beds were fine, and in well equipped rooms. There was no air conditioning.

Our experience:

We booked this accommodation through Inghams (what I am about to explain has nothing to do with this company, as we have travelled very successfully with them for the past 8 years, and we will continue to do so in the future). On arrival at the Villa Olivo we were met by one of the owners, a woman who spoke virtually no English. We signed the forms, handed over our passports, 150 Euro deposit, and we were shown to our room.

1. The Sofa Bed: This is where we encountered our first problem: - The room was advertised as having a pull out sofa bed in the lounge area, which it didn't, and as there were 5 of us this was a problem. The owner offered to make up the sofa into a bed, and as our youngest is only 9 he was able to sleep on this for the two weeks. We later discovered that the sofa was in actual fact a broken sofa bed, and it was held together with cable ties.

2. The fridge: The Fridge in the apartment was old and not working at the level it was set at, so I turned it up, went out and bought some food and stocked it up. The next day when we came back to the apartment for lunch, I noticed that the fridge had been turned down and no one in our party did it. The Inghams rep came in to see us to see if we had settled in and mentioned that the owner had turned the fridge down as it freezes easily. Over the next few days we would turn the fridge up and some one would come in during the day and turn it down.

3. Mysterious visitor: During the day someone would be in our apartment and there would be nothing done, we got the impression that the owner was just in to check out what we had in the apartment. This gave us cause for concern, and we were unable to leave anything out for fear of what might happen to it.

4. Dirty swimming pool: During the first few days the boys said that the pool was dirty, and I did not notice as the owner seemed to clean it. As the holiday progressed I began to notice a ring of dirt around the pool. From the beginning of the second week this was very noticeable. One of the boys was not able to go into the pool on the last two days as he acquired an ear infection; on the last day another one of the boys had a similar ear infection. When we got home both boys were taken to the doctor and he confirmed the infection.

5. The Bins: Around the pool area there were a number of bins which were not emptied, and by the time we were leaving the apartment one bin at the pool had a number of dirty nappies in it.

6. Visitors: We had visitors from home up one day for lunch, and within 2 minutes of them arriving the owner was up, and she demanded that they left. I had to contact the rep, and she phoned the owner to explain that the friends were only up for lunch. This was mighty embarrassing for us, and it made us feel very uncomfortable.

7. Badminton: The accommodation offered NO entertainment during the day, and our boys bought badminton rackets, and this was their entertainment for some part of the day. The owner, on more than one occasion moved them away from their location and indicated that they were making too much noise, as other people were sleeping.

8. Noisy neighbours: Our boys were not allowed to make a noise playing a game of badminton, but the non-English speaking neighbours (and they were not Italian) were allowed to make lots of noise and have their visitors in their rooms until very late at night.

9. Checking out: When we checked in we were charged 150 Euros as a returnable deposit. This is normal. On the checkout day the owner came to our apartment with another woman and went through every cupboard to make sure everything was in place. We had the place really clean, with all the sheets and towels stacked neatly, all the dishes cleaned and put away and the floor brushed. The owner charged us 50 Euros for cleaning and 20 Euros for use of the towels. In the brochure we were to be charged for a change of towels, which we did not get, and there was no mention of the charge for cleaning. We paid this 50 Euros. In fact, we just did not receive the money back. When the rep picked us up, we explained what had happened and showed her the brochure. She went to speak to the owner and after about 10 minutes, she arrived back on the bus and gave us 30 Euros back, and she explained that we should not have been charged this.

This is our experience of this accommodation, and one which we will NEVER have to experience again, as we will NEVER go back.

We got the impression of being treated as second-class citizens, and I think it is for a number of reasons.

1: Because we spoke English

2: Because we were staying in the apartments and not the hotel.

3: Because we had children.

If you are thinking of staying at this accommodation please consider this report.

All the best.