Italian Guesthouse

a month ago

I rarely leave negative reviews, but I feel obligated to warn future travelers. Our reservation was originally made through Booking.com. Shortly afterward, the owner contacted my father-in-law asking us to cancel the Booking.com reservation and book directly with him because there were supposedly “issues with the transaction.” We agreed, but in hindsight I wish we hadn’t because we can no longer leave a review on Booking.com. We were in St. Lucia for a wedding and spent most of our days exploring the island, so thankfully we were only at the apartment in the mornings and evenings. The apartment looked much darker, dirtier, and more run-down than the listing photos suggested. We expected mosquitoes because we were visiting a tropical island, but the pest problems went far beyond that. The kitchen was quickly overrun with ants. They got into sealed chocolate bars, bags of chips, and even food we stored inside the microwave overnight. We had to throw food away and keep all of our dry goods in the refrigerator just to protect them. Every morning we found dead cockroaches, and we saw several live ones during our stay. We believe that the only reason we found so many dead cockroaches rather than alive ones was because we bought Raid and would spray the house down before leaving each day and before bed at night. We also found mouse/rat droppings on top of one of the bedroom closets and in the living room. The final night was the worst. We found a bed bug on one of the pillows resting on one of the mattresses in the living room and photographed it immediately. After inspecting the mattress, we found numerous black spots covering the mattress underneath that appeared to be mold or mildew. After discovering the bed bug, we contacted the owner and requested a 40% partial refund, which we felt was fair since we completed our stay but had encountered serious sanitation issues. Instead of expressing concern, the owner blamed us. He claimed we refused daily housekeeping, even though daily housekeeping was never offered or discussed with us. He also accused us of abusing the air conditioning by leaving it running and leaving windows open. This is false. We paid an extra $10 USD per day specifically to use the AC, were gone most of the day sightseeing, and turned it off whenever we left except for one occasion when we accidentally forgot. We never left windows open while the AC was running except briefly cracking the bathroom windows while showering but we then closed these two windows after showering and kept the bathroom door closed while showering to keep the cool air from the house from escaping. He even claimed the housekeeper said she “would never be willing to host people like us again even if her salary was doubled.” This was shocking because every interaction we had with her was friendly and respectful. We followed the house rules, took our own trash out during the stay, and left the apartment clean. To be fair, the housekeeper and her son were very kind, and the neighborhood was generally quiet outside of Carnival festivities. What disappointed us most wasn’t just the condition of the apartment—it was the owner’s refusal to acknowledge any of the issues. At no point did he apologize for the bed bug, rodent droppings, cockroaches, or ant infestation. We have photographs documenting the bed bug, rodent droppings, cockroaches, and other conditions described above. St. Lucia was absolutely incredible, but this accommodation was the worst part of our trip. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend staying here. STAY AWAY and be wary of any positive reviews this location has received.

8 months ago

Found a rat in the kitchen within 2 hours of arrival. The property has holes in the kitchen window where rodents can freely enter. Other guests also saw rats and checked out the same day. To make it worse, the property charged my card before check-in and now refuses to refund, while telling me to deal with Booking.com, who then sends me back to them. Unsanitary, unsafe, and dishonest. Avoid at all costs.

8 months ago

Very clean with excellent services, an easy and pleasant walk to the beach, and a breathtaking view. A beautiful Caribbean-style location!

a year ago

From booking this place I felt uneasy. Ale sent a generic whasap message to change our room to a smaller room as the room we had booked was "double booked" I flagged this with airbnb as the booking was not refundable. Ale did not communicate with air bnb. after talking with ale he promised me this was a more expensive room with a roof terrace and views. reluctantly I agreed. when we arrived this was not the case. there was no views. the roof terrace was a building site and not safe and the terrace pictured was a different room. Attached images the promised sun loungers on the roof terrace we were shown the original room which again had pictures of dining areas that were part of a different room. while we stayed there at least 2 families arrived and refused to stay. in the room we had the bed was small and hard, we had a leak in 4 places- the bed- onto a live socket ect. cheap tables, no sofa . we got bitten to hell. Kitchen outside which great in theory terrible in practise with cockroaches and other nasties. on air bnb listing all hosts are one person and most of the reviews are fake as they are the staff/ friends. We were contacted by 7 different people about this booking all with different information. Communication within the team was awful and made everything for us more stressful on a already stressful situation. There is much nicer, better located accommodation in gros islet. Do not let a map and the fake reviews fool you.

a year ago

If you want an authentic St. Lucia experience then book at this guesthouse. The views are worth the steep drive to get there. My sole criticism is that the bathroom could use an upgrade and a shower to replace the bathtub.