ADVISORY NOTES
Dear Principal Renter / Incoming Guests.
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These advisory notes have been compiled in collaboration with the owners, Supremevillas.com and our own management company, Villa Support, to make incoming guests aware of potential problems that may arise during your rental to make your stay even more safe and pleasant. Please take the time to read them so that you are aware of these and can inform your party accordingly. They are based on the combined experience and observations of rentals specific to our 2 large villas and we have found that most guests appreciate the advice contained herein. They are not meant to be dictatorial and no offence is intended or implied. We welcome all guests and it is our foremost aim for you to return home with fantastic memories of a great time, deep tans and hopefully book with us again sometime in the future. A current reference copy of these notes can be found at the back of the General Information Booklet at each villa.
As the principal renter and the person ultimately responsible for the booking we respectfully request that you forward any of this information which you feel may be particularly relevant to other guests in your group. Whilst we welcome all guests to our villas without prejudice, statistically; and in our experience; teenagers/adolescents and students/undergraduates seem to have the least regard that ultimately this is someone else’s home and should be treated accordingly.
The white room towels that are provided for your stay are NOT pool/beach towels. Should these or any soft furnishings, sheets etc. be stained with suntan lotions and/or make-up they cannot be cleaned effectively and you will be charged for their replacement. In particular Riemann P20 alcohol-based sun protection is irrevocably permanent. Please ensure that you use the pool towels provided on the sun loungers as we have experienced similar issues with the fabric covering and as a courtesy for the next guests. The maids will change the room towels once a week. Please do not ask the maids for more as they will be at the laundry. You are supplied on arrival with a full complement of room towels and these are usually changed on Tuesday with Saturday changeovers. Each guest will also have a pool towel for their stay. Should the inventory be incorrect when you depart replacements will have to be paid for. Please do NOT wash the room or pool towels provided. This season many towels have had to be replaced (and subsequently charged for) as they have been washed with other items of personal laundry that are not ColourFast rendering them useless.
The swimming pools at both villas are cleaned at least once a week (more so in extreme hot spells). Please assist to keep them in good condition by asking the children not to put items from the beach; shells and sand etc. in the pools as it blocks filters and is very time consuming to remove. Unlike a lot of our competitors we do not shock load our pools with chlorine. To reduce the potential for adverse skin reactions, particularly with children who will probably spend more time in the water than others, we maintain our pools at 2-4 ppm free chlorine (the recommended concentration to sanitise the pools) and a pH value of 7.4 (slightly alkaline). Remember, the chlorine is purely a disinfectant, not a detergent, and we recommend removing excess sun-tan oils before swimming. Oil and water do not mix and excess sun-tan lotions/creams will result in a greasy tide mark at the water level, cloudy and discoloured water and blocked filters. Remember this is a private pool so poor water quality is only a result of use by members of your group. Do not tamper with or empty skimmer baskets as these contain chemical tablets for pool cleaning. We recently found that guests had ‘thrown out’ these tablets with the leaves etc. collected in the baskets. This causes a very rapid reduction in free chlorine with consequent poor water quality. Our management company will deal with all aspects of pool cleaning/maintenance.
The walls of the games rooms at both villas are often subjected to blue pool chalk and footmarks. We appreciate that children will probably make use of these rooms more than others but should there be excessive marks on the painted surfaces they cannot be cleaned and will have to be blended in with the correct paint code for which there will be a charge. We welcome the children staying entertained but not at the expense of the next guests experiencing poor décor.
We understand that children need to be kept entertained but biros; felt-tip pens and wax crayons do not mix with soft furnishings and painted walls. Please ensure children’s artwork remains on paper.
We acknowledge that children’s sleep patterns may be slightly disrupted due to the altered environment and bed-wetting accidents may be more prevalent. To this end we use mattress protectors on all beds. It is very time-consuming and costly to hygienically and effectively remove urine and blood from soft furnishings. If any persons in your party are susceptible to this occurrence and accidents occur could you please make it known to us or the management company at your earliest opportunity so that we can take the appropriate measures to change the protective covering and clean as a courtesy to all guests.
The maid service that is provided during your stay will try to be unobtrusive and expedite their duties as quickly as possible. They will normally attend the villa twice during a 7 night stay for light cleaning/ tidying etc. Please note that this is not a discretionary service and is provided for your comfort to ensure the villas are kept at their best.
As part of the on-going upgrades both villas now have new ‘Rattan’ type outside furniture installed. Be aware that the tables have glass tops as part of their features and remain in place due to their weight. They are not secured other than by gravity.
It has been brought to our attention by the management company that certain rentals this season have been rearranging furniture at the villas. We respectfully ask guests NOT to move furniture, beds, Hi-Fi; gym equipment etc. due to the potential hazards of damage to furniture, masonry, flooring, fixtures and fittings and guests themselves. If, for any reason, you are not happy with the configuration please inform the management company and they will do their best to accommodate any reasonable request.
Casa do Vale has a Sony hi-fi system installed in the lounge. This units contains a hard disk drive which is fairly delicate and is only for indoor use. We respectfully ask guests NOT to move the Hi-Fi elsewhere in the villa; especially not outside. It is fitted with a male-to-male 3.5mm standard stereo auxiliary lead which allows all phones, iPods, iPads, mp3 players etc. to input music through the hi-fi via the 'AUX' socket. Please ensure this auxiliary lead remains with the hi-fi. If not we shall have to charge for its replacement.
We request that you do not add any electrical equipment (computers, mobile phones, media players and cards etc.) to any of the TV or entertainment system’s inputs other than where a dedicated cable/lead or advertised appropriate connection cable has been provided and supplied by us. All media and entertainment equipment in the villas has been sourced and installed by UK specialists to provide the optimum settings for the services advertised. The management company will not undertake any remedial work should any of these hi-tech items fail to function correctly due to non-compliance. There are simple instructions provided to operate these at optimum settings. Of course children are welcome to bring their own specific controllers for the PlayStation, X-Box and Nintendo games consoles.
To be fair to all our guests we now perform a full function check of all electrical, electronic and entertainment equipment prior to each arrival and should any equipment malfunction you will be advised of this on your arrival and we shall endeavour to expedite repairs or replacement so all can enjoy the facilities. Should any major issue develop beyond our control we may have to withdraw certain equipment from service to facilitate repair. This is in response to a certain party blaming outgoing guests for breakages when in fact there was no prior booking! We believe this makes it fairer for all and allows us to keep as many of the facilities in service as is possible.
Our management company, Villa Support, have been called out to attend both villas this season for reported poor dishwasher operation. The dishwashers have been serviced and to work at their optimum must be used with salt in the appropriate dispensers (due to the hard water in the Algarve) and a proprietary tablet such as ‘Finish’, ‘Calgonit’ or ‘Sun’ brands. We cannot guarantee the effectiveness of other types of tablet. We fill the salt dispensers prior to each rental.
We are often asked why we do not provide console games, DVDs and other removable media. Firstly there are copyright and public broadcast legal issues to comply with and whilst we want all our guests to enjoy the facilities we understand that everyone has different tastes and censorship constraints. One party wondered why their children were particularly quiet watching a DVD in the cinema only to discover that the previous guests had left a very graphic adult title! As a courtesy to all please ensure that you take all copyrighted media with you when you leave. Please feel free to leave any holiday reading or novels at the villa to build up a small library for guests’ use.
Please do not remove batteries from remote controls as this causes an inconvenience we feel most guests would like to avoid. If for any reason a remote does not appear to function our management team will be more than happy to assist. Similarly, please do not remove pages from our own information booklets and guides in the villas (phone numbers and maps in particular) so as to ensure that all the information contained within is available to everyone. We shall try to ensure that there is adequate promotional literature containing maps etc. in the living rooms of both villas so that you are aware of the activities the Algarve has to offer during your stay.
Previous guests have attempted to repair items that have become faulty (electrical equipment and sanitaries). Please do NOT attempt any repairs; aside from the associated dangers involved our management company are equipped to deal with such matters.
There are no domestic refuse collections from dwellings in the Algarve. The maids' duties include removal of bathroom refuse only. We ask that you deposit all other refuse in the green-topped communal bins that can be seen regularly at the side of most roads. These are for all types of refuse. We are sure you will appreciate that 16-18 people can generate a lot of refuse and uneaten food etc. can go off very quickly in these temperatures bringing with it the risk of infestations from pests. For those who do wish to re-cycle there are certain specialist containers with pictures of the content (glass, paper etc.) but they are not overly abundant as in the UK. The nearest bins to Villa La Quiete are located by exiting the gates, bear left to the main junction, turn right and follow the road round in front of 'Pine Hills'. Just past Pine Hills you will see the bins on your right behind a green chain-link fence with a gate access. For Casa do Vale go to the main road via our cul-de-sac and the bins are located just on the left of the road opposite. Please ensure the bulk of your refuse is disposed of on your departure day. Any local council removal charges will be passed on to those responsible.
Previous years’ hot summers and lack of rain can result in an increase in the rodent population in the Algarve with sightings of indigenous brown rats in the gardens of both villas. These are not dangerous and our pest control management has put in measures to keep them outside of the grounds as humanely as possible. However, we would ask you not to leave uneaten food around, either inside or outside (BBQ areas especially), as they are best controlled by removing their alternate food sources.
With both villas in close proximity of the coast sea breezes (very pleasant) can blow up at various times. If you leave the patio doors/windows open throughout the villa this can result in the room doors slamming very hard causing damage to the fixings (and in one case last year a guest was slightly hurt). Similarly the external aluminium shutters have spring loaded restraints to lock them in the open position. Please ensure that these are not allowed to slam back and forth with the wind as they are very costly to repair/replace. We ask you to please be aware of this occurrence.
All sets of keys for both villas have the initials of the relevant villa on the key tag. For your security and safety do not label any keys with the names or location of the villas for obvious reasons.
REMEMBER – the alarm systems are for your security and safety. Close and lock all doors, patio doors and windows in the villa (not the shutters) and arm the alarm system(s) when you go out.
What little crime there is in the Algarve is generally only of an opportunist nature against careless tourists. It is still statistically the safest holiday destination in Europe. Any person(s) requesting access to either Villa La Quiete or Casa do Vale are NEVER to be admitted until you have checked with our management company, Villa Support, that they are bona-fide sub-contractors who have been authorized by them or ourselves to carry out such works. Wherever possible we shall try to inform you beforehand of any inspections etc. If you are at all unsure, call Villa Support; better to be safe than sorry. The only regular people who have coded access to the properties are the maids, the pool cleaners and the gardeners and these have all been vetted for their trustworthiness and only the maids are allowed interior access. Those with hire cars parking at beaches/ beach restaurants would be advised to remove all personal items from the vehicles (including passports etc) and even leave the windows slightly open to deter any would be opportunist from effecting a clumsy entry to look for valuables.
It has been reported that taxi drivers may have been given the gate codes for both Casa do Vale and Villa La Quiete and one client was greeted by a cab driver waiting in the kitchen! These codes are now changed every rental. DO NOT reveal these codes to anyone for your security; especially taxi/transfer companies or their employees.
Certain guests have been arriving at the villas earlier than 2:30pm (14:30 hrs) local time. This causes untold problems for cleaning and maintenance staff. These are large villas and consequently require a 4 hour changeover period. Most villas of this size only allow access after 16:30 hrs. Unhindered, we can prepare these in the allotted 4 hour changeover time. Similarly you must vacate the premises by 10:30 hrs on your departure day. Please note that you will not be admitted earlier than the allotted time under any circumstances as we want all our guests to check-in with our villas at their best.
The espresso coffee machines at both villas operate with capsules. For rental periods inclusive of welcome packs you will be supplied with 8 capsules. A wide selection of different blends and strengths of coffee can be sourced from Pingo Doce supermarkets. The specific capsules for these machines are their own brand marked Cafe Espresso - Caffitaly.
Please do not remove mirrors from their wall fixings as they are easily damaged.
We thank you for your co-operation.
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Supremevillas.com