We stayed at the villa with our children and friends so a total of 7 people. The villa is clean, well equipped with wifi, air con, dishwasher, washing machine etc and has a great view of the sea. Its on a main road which is busy, but you get used to it. The resort of Coral Bay is a couple of miles up the road and there are plenty of places to eat and the beach is ok. You will need to hire a car if you want to get out and about, although the bus service seemed regular.
The owner Yianni is very helpful and can provide many extras including towel hire, car hire and a chef which we used to great satisfaction one evening. It is lacking pool toys and games for kids etc.
I have been to Cyprus twice before and I was shocked at how run down it was looking since the recession started. Everything close by was tatty, unkempt and derelict which was very sad and it doesnt give a good impression at all.
At the beginning of the holiday we were made aware by Yianni via e mail that there had been some burglaries in the area and that someone had entered the villa while it was open and taken valuables. There was also a letter attached to the front door. As a result of this we ensured that we locked all doors and pulled blinds down and tried to keep valuables where possible upstairs. The safe was too small to store large items in and we couldn't access it anyway for some reason so kept our things in our rooms.
On Thursday night I'm sorry to have to say that someone entered the property (how, we do not know) while we were sleeping and stole numerous items including laptops that were on charge downstairs and cash from wallets. We do not know how they did this but the police accused us of leaving the patio door unlocked - we didnt. The police went through the motions but we felt they werent really bothered. They said the intruder wouldnt come back but we all felt very frightened. I felt that in hindsight with the e mail and letter about theft that it had happened before(possibly more than once). Tourists are easy targets especially as the villas stand alone and are located on a main road, so easy to flee from.
It is also worth noting that the police will not give you a crime number for your insurance claim, it is up to the insurance company to contact the police station directly and they will then issue it to them. Apparently its a legal requirement, but be aware this could hold up your claim.
As a result of this incident our holiday was spoilt.
Security at this property MUST be improved in order to make visitors feel safe, it is just too easy for someone to get in and out of this villa. Our children were sleeping in the downstairs room when it happened. We feel lucky that nothing awful happened.
Having had e mail correspondence with Yianni he is going to install burglar alarms at all three villas and is also going to put a fence up along the side wall so for future guests you can be assured that it will be much more tricky for anyone to enter the property.
Unfortunately though this has really put me off staying here again I'm afraid.
One last thing - don't stay here if you have anyone with disabilities or a wheelchair, it is impossible to enter the property without going up steps, even through the back gate.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Jul 9, 2014
Dear Juliette,
First of all let me sincerely thank you for your kind words about our villa and service. We take pride in maintaining our villa to very high standards and we always aim to give the best service we can to our guests, as also seen from all our other 5* reviews. However, it is a shame that, through no fault of ours, the burglary spoilt what would have been a wonderful holiday for your family and friends.
FACTS OF THE INCIDENT
As you have now been informed by the Police, they have arrested a suspect who eventually proved to be the opportunist that entered the villa that night. Based on these new facts, the fact that there was no actual signs of break-in at the villa, and, information obtained from the suspect, the Police informed us that their original assessment on how the incident happened is correct. This will now end the speculation and assumptions made, as it is now clear to the Police that the burglar entered the villa through a patio door, which, unfortunately, was accidentally left unlocked by one of the occupants. In spite of this, we sincerely understand your frustration and saddened that it spoilt your holiday.
VILLA SAFETY
During the past few years we have had numerous groups of guests (numbering about 300 per year) who had wonderful holidays staying in our villa and a large percentage have come back, time and time again. A large number of them have left wonderful reviews on our website and some also posted 5 star reviews on TripAdvisor. So we feel that your speculative comments about the safety condition at our villa, are rather unfair.
Even though crime rate in Cyprus is low and nowhere near the levels that exist in the rest of the European countries, unfortunately like everywhere in the world petty theft does exist. As we mentioned prior to your arrival there was a burglary through open patio doors in another villa in the area 2 miles away hence the notification we posted to warn you. The local police recommended we post a notice regarding this event in order to warn our guests, so this is the real reason the notice was there. As the notice indicates, if the same basic safety precautions taken back home in the country of origin are also taken whilst on holiday, then no problems should be experienced.
ADDITIONAL MEASURES TAKEN
However, we are always open to constructive comments and for us a burglary (irrespective of how it happened) is not something that we have taken lightly. Therefore, we have already implemented the following measures in order to try and eliminate even the slightest possibility of this incident ever happening again, we have:
= installed a burglar alarm system that will deter any attempts to enter the villa and will protect our guests.
= changed the closing mechanism on all sliding patio doors and windows so that the will now lock automatically once they are pushed to close. Up to now, you had to push the sliding door to close and then press a button to lock it, so this two-step action is now reduced to an all-in-one action.
= installed additional peripheral night lighting.
= acted upon your recommendation and increased the height of the fence at that small 2-metre long gap so that it is now about 2 metres high, lust like the other 100 metres of fences around the villa.
Of course, we fully understand that this will not change what happened during your holiday but we are confident that these additional measures, will greatly assist in preventing other similar unfortunate incidents happening again.
FRAUDULENT INSURANCE CLAIMS
We do agree with you that the new procedure the UK Insurance companies decided to follow when examining claims by people travelling abroad is a bit cumbersome. Our insurance broker has indicated that the insurance companies have done so in order to deter fraudulent insurance claims.
CLARIFICATIONS
Finally, I would also take this opportunity to correct and respond to our readers on three points mentioned above:
1. ACCESSIBILITY FOR PERSONS WITH REDUCED MOBILITY: Please note that we do not advertise our villa (and never have done so) as being suitable for visitors with such needs, and, if specifically asked prior to booking, we always advise our potential guests that the villa is only suitable for groups exactly like yours, which did not require any special access provisions.
2. EXACT LOCATION OF OUR VILLA: We would like to clarify that our villa is not located on the main road. It is actually located at the end of our private 100 yard-long drive, off the main road and right on the water front. The photos and Google Earth satellite images appearing on our website also clarify this.
3. CONDITION OF AREA: Currently, looking at the area of Coral Bay, all someone will be able to see are newly renovated shops and restaurants as also houses that are in the process of being built. In fact a new lounge-relax beach bar/coffee shop just opened on our beach less than half a mile away. Perhaps the work-in-progress in the area was mistaken as being derelict premises but that is certainly not the case, as hundreds of thousand of visitors that will visit Cyprus this summer will witness.
Again, we are truly sorry that this incident spoilt your holiday. However, we would like to thank you again for your wonderful comments about our villa, seaside location, our overall service, all additional services we arranged for you on site (chef for private dinner, on site massage), and also taking the time to let us have your feedback.
Best regards, Yianni and family.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.