My husband and I have had some wonderful rental experiences and some real disappointments because of misleading, and at times, untruthful information on agency websites. My incentive to share this information is to warn potential renters about agencies like this.

Algarve Accommodation Agency in Lagos, Algarve, Portugal misinformed us about a villa rental this past July. They said construction in front of the villa we were interested in renting would be completed by our arrival. It was on their website, and I further questioned them about this in an email at the time of booking, which was 8 months prior to our arrival. They had ample opportunity to inform us that construction would not be completed so we could make alternative arrangements, but they did not. When we arrived at the villa in July and expressed our shock and disappointment, they did offer a full refund, but we had just driven 3 hours down from Lisbon following a flight from Canada. The four of us (2 children) were exhausted, it was early evening, and we wouldn't have even known where to go, let alone find a place to rent! They also offered 2 other rental options which were lacking many features we had taken the trouble of selecting when booking, and were therefore not considered viable options. They even had the nerve to say the construction was minimal until we presented them with video footage of the work being done, and proof of the incredible noise levels present from 8am to 5pm every single weekday. How wonderful it was to be awakened by the charming constructions sounds of truck deliveries, shouting, saws, drills and hammering which went on all day, while trying to enjoy time in the garden by the pool. What a waste of money!

Their website also promised beautiful sea views from the second floor balconies. This was obviously once the case, prior to the construction of a row of townhouses in front of the villa. Views were now completely obstructed with the exception of a teeny partial view from one of the three balconies.

As renters, we are all at the mercy of the information included on websites by owners and agencies. This agency failed to provide honest and updated information. They were rude to us, had lame excuses for every legitimate complaint, accused us of "moaning" and offered us an insulting 10% reduction. My advice would be to not ruin your holiday and waste your money with this agency as they refused to take responsibility for anything, and were negligent about providing honest, up to date information.

Imagine planning your family vacation 8 months in advance; taking many weeks to explore rental options to find something meeting all of your criteria eg. walking distance to beach , close to golf, within budget, etc. and ending up with this. I can't tell you how disappointed we were, having had such a magical rental experience the summer before in Turkey, through a wonderful agency.