12 September 2025 (sunny and hot) 0km

 We had a good sleep at the Villa Center and Pool/Hotel Agimi and woke at 6.30am.

We had the early check out time of 9am so got straight into breakfast and checking booking.com to see what other options we had. We would have been ok to stay here but would have liked a little kitchen. Plus there were plenty of options for a lot less than $70 per night.

So we found a property about 100 metres down the road with a little kitchen for $41NZ a night. Check in wasn't until 3pm but we sent them an email asking if we could check in earlier and they said yes.

So we walked down with the bikes at 9am and were sweating profusely in the short time it took us to get there.

We met Resul the owner and his wife Nora and they said the room would be ready at 10am. 

Resul invited us to have coffee while we waited.

Can't refuse an offer like that and soon we were sitting in the shade drinking coffee and homemade brandy (very strong!) and chatting to Resul with the aid of Google Translate.

This of course gave us the opportunity to test out the WiFi, which was very good.

At 10am the room was ready and we quickly checked the efficiency of the air conditioning, which was also great. 


We decided that it was third time lucky and we would stay here for the rest of our time before we could go to Corfu.

So we paid Resul up front in cash for five nights and it was a total of $200NZ for five nights. Brilliant.

His wife Nora gave us the last of the figs from her tree and also two chocolates. They are a lovely couple and we feel very comfortable here.

After doing some washing, I thought I'll leave my reviews of the other two places, but found the one we left this morning had already placed a review in my name, obviously giving themselves a 10.

I was shocked that they had managed to do this, so quickly unlogged my booking.com account from all other devices and made it so you need my fingerprint to log in. Then I wrote a message to the Villa Center and Pool to tell them that was totally unnecessary as I was going to give them a great review anyway, but it's a whole day later and I've heard nothing and the review is still there. Unfortunately I can't find a way to change it.

I have now written to Booking .com and still heard nothing from them either. 

So I will never trust their reviews again and I am very wary about even using the app anymore as I wonder how the hell this hotel managed to do this?

I was all set to march up the road and confront them about it but as Pete probably wisely pointed out, you didn't want to get into an argument with an Albanian in Albania.


After collecting the shopping for the day, we just did more cleaning and repairing of stuff and then had a workout in the coolness of our room before shower and dinner back at our GF restaurant with our smiley little waiter.

We shared rocket salad, grilled vegetables and spinach and chicken risotto which was delicious again, all for $48NZ.

Walked to the shops for some yoghurt for our breakfast and then back to the apartment for a coffee and bed.


Comments

  1. JimmySeptember 13, 2025 at 2:33 PM

    well done Ju for spotting that and getting your review page on fingerprint secure.
    Gosh one has to be so careful with AI. Its good you can get your favourite food still. Met up with Dot and Den on the WW the when I got to RH B & A turned up and we had a coffee together, and the weather was wild. Looking forward to seeing Corfu and what you think of it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. DotdenSeptember 13, 2025 at 5:09 PM

    Looks like you found yourselves a good spot and very reasonable. It was great having a chat to Jimmy yesterday and had a nice chat to B and A in the park this morning.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Twin 2September 13, 2025 at 10:50 PM

    Are we all speaking in code now ju has had her online security compromised?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Keren EarpSeptember 14, 2025 at 1:48 AM

    Interesting wondering how that could be done, maybe the hotel has their review email going to guest and themselves so they can do a review if the guest doesn’t. Really interested to hear what booking. Com have to say as I often make a decision based on reviews.
    Those bodies are going to wonder what the heck beds, walls, roof, internet,cafes and no biking careful they don’t get to comfy 😆

    ReplyDelete

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