Zenit Olhao Bed & Breakfast

The house described was an apartment. The place is in a poor state of repair, missing bulbs, lamp shades missing, fragile shower door, dirty, furniture you would find in a deceased pensioners house clearance, cheap tatty linen, worn ragged towels. The Aircon was ineffective even on full if you could put up with noise. There were no curtains or blinds so the apartment in constant light from the street light fixed to the outside wall. The fundamental function of a hotel room is to enable sleep. The noise and constant light made this impossible. As we say awake we discussed if this was the worst lace we have ever stayed. The charm af a deceased estate and the facilities a bankok backpackers hostel. It was 2nd worst behind a similarly disappointing hovel in Venice.

I never stayed, to be clear. I had a reservation, I arrived after a long flight and wondering around some confusing streets, ready to get to my room and relax but I was treated like dirt from the moment I approached the entrance. I was blocked from entering, told the hotel was full and I was 'confused' if I believed I had a booking. I was then made to wait outside, the door locked so I couldn't get in I guess! and then the smug man eventually sauntered back at which point I was in contact with *******, with whom I made the booking, and walked away. ******* later told me the hotel cancelled the booking the day before I arrived but I had no notifications. Whilst I'm sorting things out with *******, the man followed me a few streets away from the hotel and told me I needed to 'change my attitude to travel' and that I did not have a reservation. I really wanted to tell him to f--- off but I held my tongue and just focused on getting ******* to sort out the mess. Any smug, hostile, and sloppy admin - that's my experience of this guest house. Super disappointed as it looked lovely and I was looking forward to my break.

My host was one of the kindest people I've ever met! He was super helpful, he let me stay in a larger apartment than I had intended on and he made me feel completely at home. The price was excellent, it was close to everything, and the place was clean and comfortable.

We never actually got to stay at this property, on 18th September, which we booked back in May. 2 days before our stay I received an email from ***********, saying that Zenit said that the CVC number was missing from the credit card I’d booked with – this is the card that I’d booked all of our 3 week holiday with and which was in daily use, with no issues. I replied and updated using my wife’s card details, which was confirmed as accepted, by ***********. I then got exactly the same warning message from them, around an hour later. At this point I began to think that this was an internet scan and emailed Zenit directly, explaining my concerns and suggesting that I pay them cash on arrival. They replied the next day to say that this can be a software issue, saying that they looked forward to seeing me soon. The following afternoon I received yet another message from ***********, repeating the process of yesterday. Again, I updated it and they confirmed that this was successful. That evening, a Sunday, whilst preparing to go out for a meal, yet another, same, email and a following one, asking me to rate the *********** booking management service!!! Shortly afterwards, I got another message from Zenit, via ***********. Zenit suggested that their system now showed my booking as cancelled and advising me to check this carefully as there was another booking made for my room. At this point, frustrated and very angry, I emailed *********** and explained that I thought, as I was only staying with Zenit for one night, they had had a better offer and were trying to get out of their commitment to me. I didn’t receive a reply, so I then phoned ***********, in Holland and spoke to a helpful guy who said that he could see the huge number of emails over the past couple of days. He sympathised with our plight and said that he would sort something out and if the booking was cancelled, he would find us something else. He even said that if this more expensive, *********** would pay the difference. This was good news, but I’m afraid that I never heard from him again! I then called Zenit directly, on the Sunday evening and spoke to the owner. He sounded like he was concerned and promised to look into this and call me back – he didn’t! With nowhere to stay on the next/last day of our holiday, I cancelled the Zenit booking and managed to find a room elsewhere in Olhao, but this all left me feeling very bitter, very frustrated and ruined the last couple of days of our holiday. I certainly wouldn’t recommend Zenit, or ***********, for that matter.