My Complaint About the Watermill Villa & Hotel Faralya on Hotels.com

I am writing to share a disappointing experience we had through Hotels.com. We booked a 4-night stay at Watermill Villa & Hotel Faralya. We struggled through one night and had to leave the next day. One reason was that we didn't notice there was no air conditioning during booking.

However, everything else and what we experienced was a complete letdown. Besides one other guest, the hotel seemed abandoned. The stone-built rooms were completely neglected; the hotel is so "in nature" that many windows can't be opened, causing the room's insect population to spike. The lighting, plumbing, and overall usability of the room were far below what was promised and paid for.

The place that claimed to be a restaurant served stale products with unhygienic service; a possibly mentally impaired and unqualified waiter made us wait over an hour for our order. With a 10-month-old baby, the hotel management's response was to offer us a smaller, unsuitable room or to install screens on the windows of our villa while we were there.

In the end, despite the 4-night fee being charged, no refund was given, even though the hotel was not suitable for a stay, let alone a vacation. This system traps you by taking payments upfront.

The responses from the hotel blamed us: "You didn't notice there was no air conditioning," and they claimed, "the room remained empty, we suffered a loss," which are unprofessional and lack commercial integrity.