George Houses — Hotel in Pentakomo

While the space itself and the surrounding view are beautiful, the house has a bit of an identity crisis, and seemingly cannot decide whether it wants to be a private house or a hotel room.||||The trouble began before we arrived. The check-in instructions simply state "key collection is organized with the host". I had to take the initiative to contact the host hours before arriving at the villa. They responded with the lockbox code. Skip ahead to arriving at Pentakomo. It is easy to navigate there using GPS and there are signs throughout the village that direct you to “George Houses”. We arrived at the house labeled Anastasia Villa, and there was no key to be found. We searched for the lockbox for 10 minutes before calling. When we called, we were told that the lockbox was located at a trailer a few hundred meters from the house. We had no way of knowing this. We were frustrated because the instructions for finding the key were too vague and the host did not give us any additional information even though we contacted him earlier. Thankfully, the host did answer when we called, and brought the key down to the house. When the host brought us the key, he told us that it was not in the lockbox anyway. Our check-in would have been delayed even if we had known about the lockbox a few hundred meters away.||||There are no parking instructions on the listing and no formal driveway or parking spot. Because the streets are narrow, I parked around back in a sand lot. However, my four wheel drive car immediately got stuck, and had to be towed the next morning. Providing simple parking instructions would have avoided that frustration.||||The pool is well maintained, despite the decking being old and having some screw heads sticking out of it ready to slash the unsuspecting foot. The trees and plants surrounding the property do produce a good amount of debris that fall into the pool, but thankfully they leave a pool skimmer available to get it up easily if that bothers you. On that note, the plants are gorgeous. There is a small orchard out back, and I wish we had gone when the figs were in season. I've seen very few fig trees as large as that one, and I'm sure the figs must be delicious. Out front, the flowering hedges give a good amount of privacy from the road, which is already fairly isolated from the rest of the village.||||We asked the host to recommend a restaurant the night we arrived. He mentioned the Village Tavern; however, the people at Village Tavern were not very willing accommodate us. I would not recommend going there. In general, Pentakomo was not so welcoming and there is not much to do in the village itself. Guests at the villa are huddled into a corner of the village and disconnected from the Cypriots who live there. The only reason to stay in Pentakomo is that it is positioned between Larnaca and Limassol.||||The next morning, I tried to cook breakfast. The house has a gas range, for which I am appreciative. However, the previous residents had broken the igniter and the host did not leave a lighter or matches. When we requested a lighter, the host responded within 45 minutes and brought two lighters to the house.||||Three days into our stay at George Houses, we came home from a lovely day in the Troodos mountains. My first impression was that someone had entered the house without telling me. I soon realized that the house had been cleaned, but I was concerned because the listing did not say anything about a cleaning service. It made me uncomfortable that someone entered the house without permission while I was not there. Additionally, the house does not have a safe to keep valuables, and there is no way of asking them to not disturb the house. I addressed this with the host who assured me that it would not happen again. I thanked him. Two days later, we came home and realized that the pool area had been rearranged while we were out. I asked the host if someone had come without our permission again. His response was "It wasn't us, it was the gardener." If I rent a house, I expect privacy. If I rent a hotel room, I expect housekeeping, a do not disturb sign, and somewhere to keep valuables. The Anastasia Villa does not know which one it is.||||I also expect some basic supplies in order to keep the house clean myself, especially since there is a sign by the door saying "Leave this space as you would expect to find it". They did provide dish soap and a fresh sponge, which goes a long way. However, they did not have trash bags, paper towels/cleaning rags, cleaning spray, disinfectant, a broom, or a mop. Additionally, the villa comes with a washing machine, but no detergent. I prefer to leave any AirBnB I stay at fairly clean. I was not given the tools to do so at this stay, and was forced to leave it looking below my own standards.||||The next "Private House or Hotel Room" moment came on checkout. The host informed me that checkout was at noon on my day of departure and that another guest coming at 14:00 that day. The host recommended I ask a restaurant a few kilometers away to hold my luggage. I have multiple problems with this. First, it would be nearly impossible to properly clean and disinfect the entire villa in a span of two hours between guests. Second, the listing on Tripadvisor advertises a minimum of 24 hours between guests as part of their cleanliness policy. That is not true. Third, if you are going to demand a precise checkout time then you should have accommodation for luggage. Luggage accommodation should not be left to a third party restaurant.||||All in all, Anastasia Villa has to decide whether it is a house or a hotel. Whether you are staying in a private place, or have to worry about your parents across the street. Staying in Cyprus is not the easiest of vacations. It is full of rich experiences and culture, but the past sixty years have not been friendly to the Cypriots. Through Turkish occupation, bankruptcy, and international opportunism, the Cypriots have undergone much hardship. It would have been helpful to have a place to come home to at the end of the day to relax from experiencing life in Cyprus. George Houses did not provide that...

I had initially few concerns around the cleanliness of the house that we got but thanks to the honest reply from the owners on the booking site where i posted the review first, i am satisfied with the response and would not hold back from giving 5 stars as the experience was overall good and my feedback will ensure other guests to come shall have an excellent experience. Here is my original review as it was;||||Pros||- nice location in a quaint little village/town 20 mins from Limassol centre by car ||- very kind and helpful owners Mario and Andrea who manage the place and will go out of theri way to make you feel welcome and at home. I have come to agree to the fact that cypriots are very welcoming and proud to receive tourists who take interest in their culture. MArio and andrea treated us to a dessert which was quite sweet made from some fruit may be prunes||- best value for money; as we got the traditional 2 storey house||||Cons||- far from Limassol but in a nice quaint village - having a car is a must to reach here - Sad state of cleaning. I need to give a low score on this so the management may take notice It's a great property and is deteriorating - as we checked in we noticed the trash had not been taken out from the last guests time The freezer compartment was smelly so we dared not open it a second time - to make the last night worst; an 8 inch centipede crawled out of our pillow while my daughter was playing inches away from it My wife rushed to pull her away We could not sleep in the bedroom with the fear of what next may crawl out from the bed We slept miserably on the sofas and woke up with back aches You will definitely find 1 or 2 roaches (dead or alive) during your stayed We stayed 3 nights The pool is also not cleaned daily not are be sun loungers maintained||||Following was response from management;||Property response:||Dear Hasan, Thank you for taking the time to review our guest houses and we are happy you found the location, the hospitality and the type of the house to your liking. Regarding your comment about the rental car is a required point as the village is centrally situated allowing easy access to the whole of the Island. Moreover, regarding the point of cleanliness, it was unexpected for us as you haven’t mentioned it during your stay. It is the first time that we take review like this as we have the cleaning lady who is responsible for these things. It was unacceptable for our property to mention the non-removable trash as always the houses are refreshed before the arrival of our guests. After your remark, we will be stricter on this point as we take our guests' hygiene and safety very seriously. We apologize for your bad experience that you passed in our property but you should tell us immediately, the same time of your stay to face this situation and to give you the choice of other house. Lastly, the cleaning of the swimming pool is programmed twice a week… if the weather doesn’t help sometimes, the air is too strong and it brings leaves and dust. We thank you again for your review and look forward to welcoming you again in the future with better experience for you and your family. Best regards, George...

Потрясающее место! Удивительный покой и тишина. Очень красивый вид и приятная небольшая территория. Отличный бассейн в окружении цитрусовых деревьев и финиковых пальм. Розмарин цветет и благоухает. Вид с балконов и террас на горы. Каждый домик имеет свое имя и свою обстановку. Мне достался самый простой Pandora, так как был последним. (апартаменты почти всегда забронированы).Даже мой домик 60м площадь. Обстановка очень комфортная внутри, есть все что нужно. Много места. Гостиная с диванами, обеденный стол, кухня с качественной плитой, большой холодильник, чайник, набор посуды минимально необходимый. Сковородки, кастрюли, тарелки, стаканы, приборы. Посуда Немного старая и не очень чистая, есть смысл помыть лучше) чистящие средства есть. В домах выше уровня есть утюг и гладильная доска. Очень удобная кровать с выбором подушек, просторная ванная комната. На балконе стол, стулья, пляжный лежак, сушилка для белья. Даже небольшая библиотека с набором книг , в основном на английском языке, но мне достался томик Пикуля, чему была рада. WIFI бесплатный и на всей территории отличный, и в номере и у бассейна, проблем со связью не было совсем. Оплата на месте, предоплата не требуется, это очень удобно. Семья, которая следит за домами приветливые милые молодые люди. С удовольствием готовы помочь по всем вопросам. Деревня небольшая, очень тихая. При этом большая школа, церковь и спортивная площадка. Один супермаркет с очень милым хозяином, он же продавец, две таверны. Таверна Iris более подходит для туристов, вторая напротив супермаркета скорее для местных. Все в пешей доступности 2 -3 мин. Гулять там особенно негде. До Лимассола на машине 10-15 мин, в городе можно в МЕТRО купить все необходимые продукты, включая свежую рыбу, морепродукты, мясо. В 7 км от отеля Гавернос пляж. Так себе местечко, не впечатлило. Грязновато там, недалеко какой то огромный завод с трубами. При наличии машины, можно найти лучше места для отдыха на море. Недалеко есть таверна Agios Georgios Alamanou Fishtavern , и отличный красивый пляж - грот с белыми камнями. Рекомендую. Если вдруг, вы окажетесь без машины)) Автобус до Лимассола ходит три раза в день Номер 90. Дорога около 40 минут с пересадкой, 1.5 евро билет.||Мне очень понравилось это место, было комфортно и я с...