Villa Beatriz Lodge

We booked this place late December 2021, to spend the New Years Day holidays in Vilcabamba. After having read the reviews at *********** and seen the pictures on the web, we were enchanted. We contacted the owner (Beatriz) and explained her that we are 3 families, how many rooms and beds we needed, etc. All could be arranged, and so we booked directly with Villa Beatriz. We were asked to transfer a 50% deposit and so we did. When we arrived to the place, it ended up one big deception. One of the families was assigned in the main house, the other family in a bungalow 2 minutes walking up hill. The whole place was one big mess. The rooms smelled so badly, there was even still dirty dishes on the countertop, and there was trash and cattle poop everywhere around. In addition, the grass hadn’t been mowed in weeks. It was clear to us that this had been one day a gorgeous resort. But that must have been a long time ago. At least before Covid. Since years it hadn’t had any maintenance. The condition of the pool was simply poor: green tiles, loose planks and dangerous nails…. We certainly would not let our kids play around. Mrs Beatriz herself wasn’t present at the time we arrived. So we called her. According to her, all was good and as agreed, and we had no reason to complain. Then we spoke to her son, who was around. He was as ignorant as his mother was. We took plenty of pictures to substantiate our complaints, sent them to Mrs Beatriz, and then we left! We asked Mrs Beatriz for a refund of our money, but we never ever heard back from her. So we lost our money. Luckily, we found another place to stay in the village of Vilcabamba itself and therefore, this terrible experience did not ruin our December holidays. We should have read the earlier reviews on tripadvisor before we booked this place. We learned our lessons. Indeed, the owner is a scam!

This property cancelled our reservation, which we made about a month in advance, just about a week before our trip was set to take place. They said they gave the room away to another customer because we had not paid a deposit, but the terms of the booking (which the property confirmed) did not require a deposit. I would not recommend booking here because you cannot count on your reservation being honored and may be left scrambling to find a room elsewhere.

I reached out to this listing because I was interested in renting the entire house for my family and I. Given that we are in the middle of the pandemic, I wanted to ensure that there was no one else in the premises. The host told me that it was possible and that he would charge me 270 per night for 8 adults and one baby for 2 nights with breakfast included. Most importantly the host guaranteed that no one else would be a guest in the house. I thought it was a great deal and asked about instructions to book. The host then told me to book through Instagram so I went there and booked through there. When my family and I arrived, the owner of the house refused to let us use all the rooms in the house even though we had agreed on a price for the entire stay. The owner claimed that it was not what we agreed on even thought I showed her the messages that clearly stated our agreement. The owner expected all nice of us in my family to fit into 3 rooms. That would mean that I had to put my sister with an infant and my grandmother in uncomfortable stays which defeats the purpose of our vacation. We ended up having to pay $100 more than what we had agreed for an extra room for my grandmother. In addition to that, the owner rented the extra room she had to another couple. This also went against what we had agreed. The owner also had additional people come in and out of the house regularly which also went against what we agreed. More than that, it put my family’s health at risk by exposing them to unnecessary people when we had paid a price for privacy and to protect our health during this pandemic. In conclusion, I find that the host and owner are dishonest and do not follow agreements that have already been set. Additionally, I find that they are careless and do not care about the health of their guests. Not only did they not adhere to the original price we had agreed to, they also brought in additional people that put my safety and that of my family, including an elderly woman at risk.