The Best Holiday Villas in South West France Alternative Aquitaine

This is the second time I've booked with Alternative Portugal and both times the accommodation has been very good. Alternative Portugal provided some useful information to help me make a decision about which holiday resort and accommodation to select. I needed to take in different needs within the family and they gave me the pros and cons of my options. The final place we selected (Salema Beach Resort) was just what we were after. All the paperwork and information was clear and in order.

We decided to book last minute in August and Justin was excellent in helping us get a suitable property at short notice in August

Very helpful guidance from Justin and Alex; thanks very much

Justin was relentless in trying to find us the perfect villa to suit our family of 10 with 4 toddlers. Communication was often and comprehensive. Excellent service.

Alex and Justin provide a very efficient and personal service and they go the extra mile. I left my camera at Salles last year and they put themselves out to help me.

The info pack from Alternative Aquitaine indicated that there would be a welcome pack, which, from past experience, suggests supplies to get you through your first night's stay - there wasn't such a pack and so we were glad we hadn't relied on this - suggest AA update their property notes! Otherwise booking process was great.

Did their best to sort out the various problems - but refused to compensate us for loss of our pool for 4 days when it broke....

Generally a very good efficient service from Justin and the company but disappointed with time taken to resolve first(unsuccessful) booking request.,nevertheless would use AA again.

We booked for the first time with Alternative Aquitaine this year. Justin was great, really knowledgable about the area and was able to help us pick the right house for 4 adults and 5 kids. The house and area was perfect for us and we had a great holiday. I would definitely use Alternative Aquitaine again.

I am very pleased to have Alternative Aquitaine organising next year's summer holiday for us again. This will be the fifth year that we will have used their services and we have always been pleased with the efficiency of their booking arrangements, the villas themselves and the friendly and personal service from Alex and Justin.

The complimentary cleaning kit didn't arrive until two days after we arrived by which time we had bought stuff. Also there was no base for our parasol until the day before we left. Also the parasols for the swimming pool area didn't arrive for five days and in our opinion the bases weren't heavy enough. One blew into pool on the last windy day.
Administration very efficient,thank you. I would book with you again but not the same property.

t heavy enough- one blew into the pool in the wind on the last day. These are teething problems though

My experience with aquitaine was limited to a couple of short telephone conversations with Justin, he was polite, cordial and assured me we would love the house and he was absolutely correct the place was superb.
Regards
Patrick

Really we would give 3 1/2 stars, between average and good. Overall service regarding payment and communications before holiday was fine. On arrival at the Villa we were happy with the house, good sized garden with pool. We arrived earlier than the stated check in time which the local contact, Miranda, said would be Ok. The house was clean, although the gardener was still there but as we were early we didn't mind.
Also would like to say Miranda was a good host, and helped us a lot during our stay.
However, the pool was freezing cold and an electrician was called during our stay to fix it. Which he did but it does put you off sun bathing with people popping in and out of the garden. In one of the bedrooms there was damp, which meant the room needed airing everyday, and it also had an ant problem. They were crawling all over the children's chest of draws and floor. Miranda did buy us some ant spray for me to spray but I found that I had to do this every other day because they kept coming back and then I was hoovering up the floor where they had died also not really that relaxing when your on holiday!
A couple of times the sinks in the bathroom and on suite blocked.
A leaky radiator in the master bedroom with a cup and towel placed underneath with damage to the floor. I had to empty the cup a couple of times to stop water going on the floor.
In the downstairs studio flat there wasn't a TV areil or DVD player so we had to take the one DVD player there was from upstairs and put it in so other members of our group could watch TV.
Unfortunetly these little things about the house let it down.
Also it needs to be made clear to future guests that it is really necessary to have transport whilst your there or your very limited to how far you can go and you miss out on a lot. We had no car, and only realised how necessary it was after we were stranded at the local super market. Taxis don't do pick ups like they do in the UK. Thankfully Miranda came to collect us! Guests should either have a car or arrange bike hire before you get there. Bikes can be booked online but be sure to get them delivered or its a good mile and a half walk to the port to collect them.

I have used Alternative Aquitaine for 9 years now, and always received exemplary service. Personal service, very informative and will make sure your holiday runs smoothly.

I phoned late one afternoon when I saw a holiday villa I was very interested in. I was surprised and delighted when I received a call early the same evening from Justin asking how he could help. He was extremely helpful and sorted everything out there and then.. A very professional and efficient service. Thank you.

Excellent , very helpful , we have now used Alternative Aquitaine for a couple of years and both holidays have been amazing . Thank you !

We thought the local Managing Agents in Portugal cut a lot of corners - we can't fault Alternative Portugal in the UK though

I've stayed in Moliets with Alternative Aquitaine for the last two years and this year managed the booking for 16 guests. Making the booking and getting in to the house after opening hours were made very by the very friendly, efficient and helpful staff both onsite and in the office. The villas are in good condition and the location is great.

The reasons I haven't given an excellent rating are as follows.

When we were due to check out, staff came over to inspect the villas. There were some hand marks on the glass sliding doors and the bathrooms weren't as clean as they could have been. We explained that it's not a problem for us to fix this, albeit with no cleaning materials provided, and within a few minutes we had the place in better condition than we found it. If the expectation is to have the villas left in showroom condition upon checking out, proper cleaning materials should be provided and this should be clearly communicated. Also, the villas should be in perfect condition on arrival, which they weren't. The staff did explain that had we notified them of this,we would have received a free mid stay clean but again this should be communicated. Perhaps a checklist for arrival and departure would help make both more efficient and satisfactory to both parties.

There is room for improvement in the information provided on the area. The book contains info on the pool and some of the local amenities but doesn't have much about prices and (as far as I can remember) doesn't mention the location of the Super U in Messanges. A note on the opening hours would also be helpful as UK and Ireland residents may not be familiar.

Fabulous one to one service and attention.

Too much information regarding key collection some of which was contradictory eg Collect key from office open until 7pm on one document and 6pm on another. on arrival at 6.30pm office closed. On another document there was a suggestion that the key might be available from cafe next door to office. After several unanswered calls, key collected from cafe.