Guest Report

[N k Dugan]

Arnos Vale Vacation Apartments were advertised as a quiet, private, relaxing place to stay. Between street noise, construction, and neighbors, it was anything but quiet. We stayed for the month of December 2012.

It was certainly not private – the owners came in every single day for a month. They were rather nosy and we had no privacy. One day they actually left a door unlocked. We got the feeling that they felt put out by our presence.

Perhaps a stay of a few days would have been better, but a month was harsh. The kitchen was meagerly equipped at best – take your own knives and vegetable peeler if you want to cook. We had to purchase glasses, baking sheets, etc.

The apartment we had was very spacious, but the layout was extremely poor. The furniture did not fit the space and two people were constantly stepping over one another. Sliding glass doors would have been a nice touch instead of solid metal, but I expect that was done for security purposes.

The deck was great for watching birds and there was a bird feeder. We were offered the use of a washer to launder clothes which saved us much hassle. Everything was very clean and tidy as the apartment was cleaned every three days. The fruit trees in the garden were lovely as was the fruit when it was available.

There was no hot water in the mornings for most of our stay. The problem got better for a few days after we complained, but then there was no hot water again. The free wifi was also not functioning for a good portion of the time we were there. And if you want to know where to leave the garbage or how to work the television, you’ll have to ask – it’s not explained when you arrive.

Do not expect more than clean linens, a bar of soap, dish soap, one garbage bag and one roll of toilet paper. As we stayed for a long time, groceries were not a problem, but for a short stay, this could be either extremely inconvenient or expensive.

This apartment could have been much more comfortable with very little modification.