August 2012

We regularly go on holiday as a large group with other families and also with friends without kids. This year we decided to go to Greece and I came across Greek Luxury Villas whilst searching the internet for potential villas. The website was very informative but we have very specific requirements e.g. separate villas but also close together and the ability to have a chef that can cater for everyone together. I found a villa that we thought might work on the website and sent a request (as I had done on several other websites) the difference here was that Carsten replied very quickly and we exchanged several emails within a few hours, mostly with me changing our requirements and Carsten managing to find additional villas that might meet our needs. This responsiveness and exceptionally high level of service continued right through the process of finding a villa, making the initial booking and then even while we were there. We are not an easy group to accommodate as there were 16 in total with 10 adults and 6 children, some staying for 10 days and some for only 7 and all with slightly different requirements, Carsten was very patient with us though and figured a solution to all our requests from scheduling a bus to take us from the airport through to arranging a chef for just 3 days (normally it has to be full week). Overall the service provided was excellent, nothing was too much trouble and you really felt like you were being taken care of. We have booked villas before with some of the larger agencies which have been fine but nothing like the service we got from Greek Luxury Villas, we would highly recommend and will be using again I'm sure.

The villa(s) we rented were beautifully decorated and maintained to a very high standard, and the grounds were perfect for children with a very large swimming pool. We had seen pictures on the website but it was even better when we arrived and the configuration worked really well with the group we had allowing us to all eat together in the evening but keep an eye on the children with the baby monitors that reached from one side of the estate to the other ...just. A chef was arranged to cook for us on 3 nights which worked really well, cooking for the children first and then multiple courses of local cuisine for the adults later. We only found out after the first night he had been brought to the island for these few days especially to cook for us. The owner of the villa also met us from the ferry and came back to make sure we got back ok as well, booking all the taxis etc. There is a caretaker at the villas every day and daily cleaning which is great and they'll even do the shopping for you. The only downside is the walk into town does take a little while probably 20 minutes and longer with kids as the roads are steep and the nearest beach is about the same distance. That really is the only downside though and didn't put us off going into town and the beach several times and it was not a problem to get a taxi back if you wanted to.

Spetses itself is a beautiful island, it is small but not too small, it has a good selection of nice restaurants and bars and a surprising number of boutiquey shops if you are into that sort of thing, which most of our group seemed to be!! It is also great that you can walk everywhere. The locals were very friendly and it was not a problem that combined we speak about 4 words of greek, even though most spoke English this is clearly more of a local holiday destination which they allowed us to share with them. We like to try new places each year but I think we will definitely be going back to Spetses.

Many Thanks Carsten for a fantastic holiday!

The Rogers Family and Friends - Surrey UK