Casa Biota

Wonderful
Traveller Type: Traveling as Couple
  : Well equipped, very nice owners, clean, walkable distance from main center and beaches in Sagres
  : lack of typical double bed in our apartment

Wonderful
Traveller Type:
  : The host was very friendly and helpful. The apartment was very modern and comfortable with good facilities. There was a nice garden with space to dry wetsuits and parking next to the property.
  : There was no soap in the bathrooms and no drying up towel provided in the kitchen

Very Good
Traveller Type: Family with Young Children
  : Small balcony with views over the rooftops and amazing sunsets. Distant sea view from the front of the property. Great shower, lovely stylish decor
  : The bed mattress was too firm for me personally. Although away from the main part of town, in a nice residential area, it was very noisy, cars speeding past in the middle of the night, and so many dogs barking

Wonderful
Traveller Type:
  : The host family are super nice and helpful, and the facilities are very clean and cozy.
  : only minor issue may be the location, but a very short car drive to multiple beaches that the hosts can recommend.

Poor
Traveller Type: Family with Young Children
  : The apartments have a nice decoration with attention to detail. The T2 Apartment has an amazing view to sunrise and sunset and the place it's suitable for a family.
  : This could have been a nice experience but it wasn't. I booked 2 nights at Casa Biota for myself and my family. I payed for the T2 apartment and received the confirmation from Booking.com. When I got there later in the night, the apartment I booked was occupied as there was an issue with my reservation. The remaining option left was a T1 apartment which is a "hostel" style with 1 room and 4 single beds. (It is also very interesting that in 46 pictures of Casa Biota in Booking.com, there is not even 1 that shows the hostel bedroom). After driving for 5 hours, at 10-ish pm, we agreed to stay in those conditions, as being forced to find 2 available rooms, for a reasonable price, on a very short notice it is not really feasible. It was a long-weekend with a national event (Ls-a-Ls) hosting more than 3k people in this small village. The host also advised that calling Booking Customer Service at that time wouldn't be much of a help and ensured next morning we would sort the issue. Indeed, the T2 apartment was vacant next day and we could move. But this doesn't mean we can ignore what happen and assume everything went well. I opened a query with Booking.com which consequently inquired the case with the host, and none of them want to take accountability for the issue. I am not in a position to validate who's fault is but for sure it's not mine! I am the customer who paid more to have the full T2 apartment, and I was offered a T1 apartment instead, losing all the privacy, sleeping all together! This is my complain to Booking.com who does not protect the customer and take the accountability for this big inconvenience and also my disappointment with Casa Biota, who says that if I "agreed" to stay the 1st night in a T1 apartment, I cannot complain. So in the end, we can all be charged extra to stay in better conditions, but if something goes wrong, no one will reimburse us. Attached you find my reservation details.

Fair
Traveller Type:
  : The flat itself was nice and fairly well equipped. All the appliances were of high quality, including the bathroom. The beds were comfortable. The location was pretty good, it was walking distance to the centre of town - we had a car to get around to beaches etc though.
  : If you value privacy during your stay, I would not recommend this place. We found the host to be quite invasive of our privacy - coming up to the flat every day to speak to us (i.e. criticise us) about something. For example, we accidentally left a light on while we were out one day. The host clearly went up to the flat to investigate how we had left it while we were out, because we were bombarded with unfriendly messages about this and then told off in person too. The host even told us they went into the property when we were away to turn it off. The messages threatened us about paying for any damages - bearing in mind all we had done was accidentally leave a light on. The host also came up to tell us not to bring our wetsuits into the flat, even though we had them hanging outside and hadn't brought them in at all. Genuinely - every day we stayed there, we were nagged about something minor. It really impacted how comfortable we felt and our enjoyment of the flat. The hosts have very high expectations for exactly how the flat must be kept - I would recommend that they write all of this down rather than continuously messaging/coming up to the apartment. We also didn't have hot water for pretty much the entire time during our stay. We were told that it was because the flat was powered by solar energy and it hadn't been sunny enough. They said they would send a technician to repair the hot water issue, but it was never resolved as we didn't have hot water for the rest of the stay. We also hadn't realised when we booked that the flat is an extension of the host's house and the garden is shared with another flat. Not a big deal but one to be aware of. Finally, a more minor comment, but the flat could be better equipped with 'beach' equipment - there were no beach towels or anything like that.

Wonderful
Traveller Type:
  : Clean, comfortable with full kitchen amenities. Parking on site & a fair size of enclosed backyard to relax and sit outside. Friendly host with lots of local recommendations.
  : Its not right on the beach but still walkable.