Funchal Bay View Holiday Rental

I have never left a bad review anywhere, so for me to go to this extent is testiment to how shocked I was by our treatment. The location of this apartment was very useful, as it was close to the centre and to the beach. There was also a lot of space in the flat, and the balcony had an amazing view. Unfortunately, these aspects were not enough to counter the issues we had during our stay, and this was especially disappointing as upon arrival, the place seemed lovely and the hosts were initially kind. There were many issues with the apartment and ultimately with our experience. First, cleanliness. There was a lot of hair in the shower, the bathroom bins had rubbish in them, the 'free toileteries' were half used, there was a sock on the couch, and the worst issue was the insects all over the kitchen counters. They were these small, black weevil things and there were thousands. You couldn't cook in there or put your plate of food down for a minute without them crawling all over it. I contacted the host on the first night about this issue, to which he replied and said he would come the next day and look into it (he never did.) These insects got inside the kettle, the toaster, the fridge, the drawers and covered the sink. There were also cockroaches in the main building, however we did not see any in the apartment. The facilities were lacking and outdated. The oven was very old and hard to use, and the leather couch was shedding black everywhere. When we arrived we were told that a sewage smell sometimes came from the back bathroom but that it 'hadn't happened in a long time', which was not the truth as multiple recent reviews mention it. During our stay, this smell was constant, not only in the back bathroom but in the kitchen and other bathroom. The TV did not work, which we showed the host's son when we arrived, and he said he would have it fixed, which it never was.

Ultimately, all of this would have been manageable as we truly were enjoying our stay, until we had an issue with the host. Upon arrival we mentioned that we would have a rental car for the latter end of the week, and we were told by the host's son to park in the garage and to how to use the key fob for the garage doors. When it came to parking our car, we circled around the garage seeing some spaces with notes on the pillars attributing that space to a flat number, until we found one with no sheet of paper. The next day, we found our car with a note and a clamp on the wheel stating a 150 euro fine per day, put there by the building management. After calling the host, who, to his credit, came immeditately, we met him and the building manager who was incredibly rude, pointing to signs and angrily telling us that we were stupid to have not seen them. We had seen the signs, that stated only authorised people could park there, which we believed we were authorised to do as we were told. The host and manager then had an angry conversation about us in Portuguese, the host paid the fine (which was nice of him), but he then proceeded to have a go at us, rudely asking why we hadn't called to check, that he was out 150 euros because of us, and that this had never happened in 5 years. Apparantly, there was a specific space you had to park in, (not related to the flat number in any way), which we were never told. When I said this, he argued that 'there was no way we weren't told'. We weren't even on the right floor of the garage. He kept arguing and being quite agressive until I just said okay, fine. Our day was ruined and I cried a lot. From there the host would not respond to messages concerning checkout until the 8am on the day (I initially emailed at 8am the morning before and texted at 8pm the night before). Beware, the hosts are very nice, until they're not, which was a huge disappointment.

The host was very helpful. The location was perfect. The apartment was very clean had everything in it that we needed.

The site stated toiletries provided. 2 tiny bottles were there. Not enough for 1 bathroom never mind 2. Just take that statement down then we would have taken what we needed.

Spacious apartment with amazing views

I like the size and place of the apartment. There is really perfect view to the ocean from the balcon. The bakery and the supermarket are in the same building. There is dedicated own garage for free. It is perfect for a family.

Size of the bed for us was a bit small, just because we’re usually used to a bigger one. The window has to be keep open in the bathroom continuously.

View was perfect location was perfect but the cracking floor when walking was not good.

The cracking floor.