Woman ditches ‘nightmare’ Lanzarote holiday villa after pool wasn’t warm enough

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A mum claimed her family holiday to Lanzarote became a "nightmare" due to an issue with the pool at her holiday villa – prompting her to storm out of the accommodation.

Earlier this year Gulnara Adomene, from London, headed to the Spanish island for a getaway but was disappointed when the thermometer attached to her rented villa's pool showed that it was six degrees colder than she was promised.

Travelling with pal Luda and their kids, the week-long trip in April left the 40-year-old irate as the bathroom wasn’t up to her standards and the pool was a "freezing" 24C. Gulnara claims the owner said that the water would reach 30C to 32C but it never did during the week they were staying. The mum claims she contacted the owner who said they would send someone to fix the pool, but nobody came until the third day of their trip.

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Due to this, she and her six companions walked out of the rental and spent £680 on a different hotel. The owner of Casa Dak claims that the fault lay with the family as they did not cover the pool at night causing the heat to escape. While he apologised for the issue he claims Gulnara bombarded him with "80 messages in three days" full of complaints.

Gulnara said: "I was looking for two months for accommodation. I thought I'd try to look for a villa so we could get a good heated pool. I found Casa Dak on Booking.com, I looked at the photos and the price and sent a few questions to the villa owner asking what temperature the pool is. He sent me a reply saying '30-32' degrees.

"I trusted him and chose his villa. We were so excited for the holidays, we were counting down the days to leave, especially for the heated pool. I told my kids and we bought so many water toys to play with. It was something different for us."

Gulnara even purchased a thermometer to measure the pool’s temperature before contacting the owner. She added: "We got there around nine o'clock at night and he was there. He showed me the property and the pool. I reached into the pool and felt it was a little cold.

"I asked him 'How many degrees is this?' and he said it was 26 or 25, but that in the day it'd reach 30 to 32. I trusted him thinking it was cold due to it being the evening. The next day I woke up and there were a few issues inside the house. There was cracked glass, a broken shower head, and a mouldy washing machine, but the main thing was the heated pool."

She continued: "We tried to get in the pool in the morning. I opened the cover and my nine-year-old daughter jumped in but only stayed in for ten minutes. She came out shivering. The other kids tried but couldn't go in. For me and my friend it was too cold."

Gulnara added: "It was important for the kids, especially as it wasn't the summer months. The sea was cold. My kids like warm water so it's important for them. I contacted the owner. He said there were problems and that something was broken, but that he'd sort the problem the next day.

"We went to the beach for another day as we couldn't use the pool. When we came back, nothing had been done and no one came. Our kids were disappointed. They were watching the pool, not using the pool. The third day of our stay, the pool engineer fixed it."

Gulnara says she was worried it would take another three days for the pool to reach a higher temperature, so she booked into a different hotel. The mum-of-two didn’t enjoy the rest of her stay though as she was anxious about getting a refund.

Gulnara said: "I thought 'Oh my god, what is the point of staying here?' We'd paid over a thousand pounds and couldn't use what was advertised. [The owner] was really uncooperative and wasn't apologising. It was really stressful. He was telling us to leave and not apologising. We were looking forward to relaxing, having fun, and feeling safe. Even when we changed the hotel, the kids were fine but I was stressed out."

The mum commented: "I feel sad and frustrated. I'm scared now to rent a villa again. I understand things can break, but we were only there for seven days and wanted to enjoy the pool.

"I contacted Booking.com and they kept saying I had to contact the owner for a refund. I trusted their platform and thought the client would be protected from some kind of issue as you are using a serious platform.

"[After moving to a hotel] it was difficult [to enjoy it] as I was still contacting the owner. I've never had this experience in my life. I'm really upset and frustrated about this situation. It's been a nightmare."

Fabrizio Rossi, owner of Casa Dak villa, disputed Gulnara's version of events and shared footage that appeared to show how the pool was 30 degrees when the cover had been on correctly. Gulnara’s photos show the loo and bathroom in what she says is a “dirty condition”.

However, Fabrizio’s show it to be clean and tidy. Fabrizio said: "I'm sorry for the problem but unfortunately it was she herself who created problems. I found the shower broken [along with] other things.

"The temperature of the pool is 30 degrees. The swimming pool must be closed at night and not opened since the temperature is 18 degrees outside at night. [As it is] an outside pool, if she had not put the cover on at night it is normal that it does not reach the right temperature.

"If it [the cover is kept closed] it keeps it much better. I [also] sent the maintenance guy for two consecutive days with a written registration for intervention. The customers [who stayed after them] have put a very different review. It seems to me not very honest and sincere [and she was] sending me like 80 messages in three days."

A Booking.com spokesperson told Daily Star at the time: "If a customer ever shows up to a property and it does not meet their expectations, our customer service team is on hand 24/7 to advocate on their behalf. In this instance, to apologise for the inconvenience the customer faced in having to relocate to another property while on their holiday, we have offered the guest a full refund."

• Spain holidays
• Spain
• Family
• Majorca
• London

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