Villa Olivo, Bardolino

i read this report on the day before we flew out to the olivio and i wish i hade read it before i booked.
i can echo just about every word posted by the first 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 whom we owned by local Italians) more of this pool later, they ...
...me 120 euros 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 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 a heated argument with the owners she got our money back , she said , and i quote " some people ... more

i read this report on the day before we flew out to the olivio and i wish i hade read it before i booked.
i can echo just about every word posted by the first 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 whom we owned by local Italians) more of this pool later, they speak no English , the daughter is learning, they charged me 120 euros 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 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 a heated argument with the owners she got our money back , she said , and i quote " some people are very very awkward to deal with "meaning the owners.

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 electric on!, the fridge had been turned down and, get this, someone had pulled all the cables out of the tv and taken the scart lead rendering the tv use less( not a big deal for us, but petty to say the least) and not what you expect especially as its 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 with no issues.

Next day we wandered up to the hotel pool, my wife went to 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 apologizing 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, and after the embarrassment the first time, but we had paid a lot of money and the small pool was not sufficient.

we returned the next day , there were kids in there with inflatable's so we went to buy some for our girls ( 3, 13 and 16 year olds btw) 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 Lillo to the edge, just in time to see the husband hiding behind a tree, i climbed out and gestured for him to ring the rep, he went mental and threatened me the best he could by shaking his fist and smashing his fist into his hand, then he ran of.

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 owners were like bloody faulty towers without the humor.

the rep couldn't do much, as everywhere was full, i calmed down , the rep saw the owners and everyone apologized,

but from point on we never went near the main pool or reception, we didnt 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 " were ever we went, we have never ever ever had any trouble any where and we have been most 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.

i genuinely believe the owners here are tight, someone ( we set little traps, sad but funny for us) kept coming in when we were out, turning the fridge down and generally nosing about. when we came to leave we were genuinely worried that they would find some excuse not to repay the deposit, they paid it all, we left and will never 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 Italy, go , we adore it, so much i am learning the language, but avoid the "olivio".

Thanks

Mark 

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