"We stayed for one week at Casa…"

We stayed for one week at Casa Margarida.  The villa was spotless and location superb, just could not fault it.  We also have a property bond and we are always spoilt with that, so we know and appreciate quality.  Lovely pool and lovely homely villa and would like to revisit, next time for longer.  If you like to relax on holiday, then this is the perfect villa for you.  A stones throw away to the most beautiful beaches in the Algarve and not too far and easy drives to  places of interest further inland

"Start to finish a great experience ."

Start to finish a great experience .

"Loved it!"

we loved the villa in particular the privacy it gave us and what a fabulous position too. Great walks and close by a beautiful beach. The welcome pack is the best we’ve had.
I would and probably will return.

"Well Done Affinity Villas"

I have used Affinity Villas for the last 6 years. I originally booked a villa for June. It became apparrent with Covid 19 that the holiday would be tricky. If flights were going ahead and the villa available then despite the pendemic if I chose not to go I would lose the cost of the flight and Affinity Villas T&C's would apply. That is a reduction of refund dependant upon the proximity of the cancellation to the holiday. As soon as the flights were cancelled I cancelled with Affinity Villas and claimed on my insurance. Affinity villas did not drag there feet and refunded extremely quickly unlike the insurance company who only had to redund 50% of the cost of the holiday and the airline for their cancelled flight. ( 4 months delay ). I had another booking for Sept. The FCO advised against travel. As we were insured we travelled and I am pleased we did. The risk was really low. A plane with 20 people, a private transfer and superb villa to myself. I have reserved for next year and given the stories of other companies I was impressed by AV service who even contacted us before we departed the UK. So my advice is just make sure you are insured and you wont lose out.

"Very nice and quick contact with you!"

Very nice and quick contact with you!

"Impressed"

Donna was exceptionally helpful. The villa was wonderful, and the welcome basket a lovely surprise.

"Refund?"

My family, like many others were unable to use their villa booking due to flights being cancelled. When it became apparent that we could not use the booking we cancelled, giving as much notice as possible.
To be told that we can't have a refund as 'the villa is there for you to use' is outrageous.
I have complained to the CMA about the unfair practices at Affinity Villas. To be told repeatedly that they are acting within their terms and conditions is just not helpful. We, like others, have just been told to claim off our insurance.
We tried to rebook or amend our booking for next year but were told it wasn't possible, even though villas for 2021 are on their website. Other villa companies have seen fit to refund their customers, even if it goes against their published terms and conditions. We have used Affinity before but this will be the last time. If they don't want to look after their customers, their customers will go elsewhere.
29/07/20 Review edited after reply.
FCO advice is NOT to travel to Portugal. Are Affinity Villas suggesting I go against FCO advice and travel to Portugal? I would then be invalidating my travel insurance.

"I wrote on my last review of 8 July"

I wrote on my last review of 8 July,

"We will never use this company again and judging by the extremely defensive tone of their responses to a significant number of similar complaints, I am not expecting a helpful or even reasonable response to this feedback!"

Well, I was not disappointed! Your responses are so defensive, blaming everybody or everything else and accepting absolutely no responsibility yourself. For example, in your response, you stated that your representative did ask us to consult our insurance company, but we were totally uninterested in following this route etc. This statement is completely and utterly untrue. We spent over a hour on the phone that very morning with our insurance company trying to explore all avenues and so I have no idea why you have written this completely incorrect statement? You also state that we took an aggressive stance during the telephone call. This is also totally incorrect. In fact, I stated to your representative that I understood that it is not her fault personally and that we are not taking it out on her. It appears to me that you have taken a conscious decision to interpret our 'upset' and 'frustration' as aggression, in another attempt to shift the blame for your totally inflexible, poor and 'legalistic' approach to customer service.

It beggars belief that you think that your rigid and unhelpful approach will make your business a success, when many of your competitors are doing their best to be helpful and flexible. And finally, I would suggest that your extremely defensive "and let's shift the blame" responses to this type of feedback is just helping to further damage your business reputation. I will never use this company again and unless you start to really listen to the feedback, I suspect that your days will be numbered.

"Ambiguous Conditions"

This week, were it not for Covid-19, I would be in a villa rented from Affinity Villas. To rub salt into my wounds, I learned today, after viewing their website that it has been rented out to somebody else.
I have been reading some of the shocking reviews left by angry clients and felt sorry for those who terminated their booking before concluding the full rental contract. I have been lucky as I will not be left out-of-pocket for long, thanks to having been insured. I have claimed for over £1000 from my insurer. That £1000 is now with Affinity Villas and, as far as I can see, is profit which is on top of the money they will make this week, having managed to find another client to fill up our space. A refund from AV, which I could pass to my insurer, would be a nice gesture under the circumstances; however, with reference to AV comments to reviews I see they like to do everything as per contracts and conditions.

My main complaint lies with the Conditions. Covid-19 falls under the term of Force Majeure. This is what AV’s own conditions say:
“We reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your holiday. However, in no case will we cancel your holiday less than 8 weeks before the departure date except for reasons of force majeure or failure on your part to pay the final balance.”
"The meaning of 'force majeure' include...natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire or flood, terrorist activity or threatened terrorist activity, closure of ports and airports and car hire depots, unforeseen local building works or road works, actions of national or local governments or any similar circumstances beyond our control."

I thought that surely since I could not get to Portugal, I would qualify for a refund. Not so according to an email reply to my query from Grant Clow, Director of AV:
"You are booking accommodation only and we have not accepted any responsibility for your travel arrangements or indeed exit from or entry into the UK or any other country. Any inability to travel on your part for whatever reason (and whether or not related to coronavirus) does not mean that we are unable to provide the accommodation or are obliged to terminate your booking and refund the payments you have made to us. It is in order to protect yourself from situations outside your control such as this one that you are required to have travel insurance.
Having taken our own legal advice, the Force Majeure element is not applicable in your case. As previously said, we have not taken any responsibility for your travel arrangements to the villa and we are only providing the accommodation only element. The Force Majeure is in place for if we have made travel arrangements on your behalf and in this case we have not, therefore we cannot be held responsible for this. The wording has to remain to cover the spectrum of bookings we make; we cannot change conditions for every scenario, and this is a generic clause.
The Force Majeure section on our website, section 5, Alterations by us . We are not making any changes or cancelling your booking as we are able to provide the accommodation offered, so no refund would be applicable under Force Majeure."

There is no option for AV to take care of my travel arrangements as in booking my flights, so why would it be in their Conditions? Conditions should be specific and a “generic clause” leaves a lot open to interpretation.
I could see no point in pursuing this without some assistance, and before I contacted AV I ran my complaint by Trading Standards, where it came as no surprise to find I had a point with the definitions of AV’s Conditions. I have been offered assistance with this and am compiling the details I need to forward to them when requested.
I am a reasonable person and I seek no quarrel with anyone. A gesture to all of AV’s customers would, in my view, make good business sense. Refund all the deposits, refund when re-bookings are made etc. and you would be sure to see me booking for next year.

Since my holiday was cancelled I have received instant refunds from two hotels, my flight and my car hire company. Covid-19 wasn’t their fault either, AV, but they had the good business sense to do the right thing. Guess which businesses I will be using next time I travel?

So my warning to prospective clients of AV out there is to be wary of conditions which the company has no intention of adhering to.

"Just let’s be clear insurance companies…"

Just let’s be clear insurance companies are NOT paying out as FCO guidance is not to travel we lost our full holiday cost and cannot reclaim