This depends on how you have booked it. Was a direct with the owner, through a (travel) agent? What do the terms and conditions say about this?

Mark

It was with an owner on Owner's Direct . Thanks will look at terms and conditions. Has anyone else out there had the same problem. We ended up booking a hotel room to get showers. Good thinking by daughter but nevertheless an unexpected expense. The villa manager said there were 4 other families that had had to use the pool water to flush the loos.How the other half live eh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :

Hi and welcome to HT!

There is a topic on water shortages in our Cyprus forum. From feedback it appears that it is not affecting the hotels, but I haven't seen anyone mention villas.

luci

sorry but why should you even consider that you can claim compensation? who's fault is it that there is hardly any water on Cyprus? not the people there and not the people who you rented your villa from. The reason you had little water is because they are not getting enough rain, its not as though your boilers/pumps broke down - then I agree you would have had a compensation claim, but not because of natural causes.

Come on I get fed up of this compensation culture that we now live in where everybody wants to blame everyone for something and wants financial recompense for anything that goes wrong (whether anyone can help it or not).

its been widely publicised for months that there was a water shortage in Cyprus, we went in April and it was a problem. Its just one of those things you need to cope with when you go to your destination and adjust accordingly. i.e. in this case use your water sparingly.

i totally agree with claire55

I'm also with Claire55 and wickedchris on this one. It has been widely publicised that Cyprus has a severe water shortage and people need to be careful of how much water they are using. I cant believe you are even talking compensation. People who live in Cyprus are living with this every day.

This is my third attempt to write a reply on this posting.

Here on HT we do try to assist anyone who has a genuine problem. At times we may be very sympathetic to someone's dilemma but be unable to assist. We also do tell it as it is when we get a posting that is more me, me, and me with no consideration of the facts that have been known for a long time.

In this case I have to say that the OP expresses a degree of arrogance when suggesting that the owner should have put an extra tank in as some others have done.

I have a great deal of sympathy for the people of Cyprus - I will be there myself in five weeks and am well aware that we may have problems due to the shortage. I would not consider that I was entitled to compensation for something that is beyond control and everyone else is suffering.

fwh

I live in Limassol but fortunatley not in an area which is subject to water rationing though we are still careful with our supply.
My workplace and some of my friends who live in town and also one of two of our hotels which are away from the tourist areas and our villas in Pissouri are affected. They just get on with it by rationing what there is and saving as much as possible.

Cyprus has had very low rain fall in the last 4 years and now we are receiving water from Greece daily. Some people have shortages 3-4 times a week for 12 hours or more at a time. No showers for them!

Not all properties are able to fit an extra tank, nor even afford to as the cost of the tanks shot up when the shortages were announced a few months ago.

I'm sorry Julie, I think you are flogging a dead horse with this.

Hold off with the attacks there!
I have been contemplating Cyprus as a destination and was not aware of any water shortage so there is every possibility that the OP was unaware of the situation until they arrived.

If that was the case then as it is an ongoing situation the owner should have notified them of the water supply problem when it became apparent and offered the option to cancel if required.

That is what we expect from a TO and why should we expect less from an owner.

OK the natural water supply is not in their control but the amount in storage is.
I assume there is a possibility that the holidaymaker would change their mind after being informed about the problem and so they have not informed them.

Lack of water for sanitory issues is a major issue on a holiday.
Knowingly accepting the situation is a lot different to having it sprung upon you on site.

I have been contemplating Cyprus as a destination and was not aware of any water shortage

Hi Steve, there's been an extensive discussion of this problem on the Cyprus forum here (so I don't know how to set-up a link!) and I'm surprised that as regular contributor to HT that you've not seen this when planning a trip to Cyprus. you should check it out beofre you commit yourself.

I appreciate that the OP is new member but water shortages on islands in the eastern Med have been a problem for a few years now and I would have assumed that this was something that, even if not common knowledge, was something that would show up in any basic search on holiday destinations in the area. I think that too often we take things for granted and assume that things will be like home when they're not - water shortages are a fact of life in many popular holiday destinations and I can only see this increasing in the future. If a constant, plentiful water supply is a 'must' for us then we're going to have to get into the habit of checking this out in advnace as a maater of routine.

SM

Anyone wishing to read the topic will find it HERE

Kath x

guilty as charged.

My contemplating as a destination means looking for a cheap holiday then checking out the hotel and area etc.

At some point I may have gone into the Cyprus forum but if it wasn't on the first page I wouldn't have gone looking.

No point looking now, Cyprus has just been crossed off the list!

The point I was trying to get across was that regardless of forums etc, the owner was aware of restrictions on the use of their own property and as such should have made the booker aware beforehand and not when they arrived.

My comments may be academic as the OP might have been fully aware of the water shortage problems but assumed the Villa was provided for.

Thanks for all the replies. I do think we are in a culture of compensation and I am totally against it for sake alone. We did not know before going to Cyprus that there had been water problems. I have Cypriot friends who live in England with family in Cyprus and when I contacted them during the holiday I was told that the water does go off and on and you can work around it. At this point I would like to apologise to people in Cyprus if I have upset you. It is a difficult situation for you. We went for a holiday we did not have to go and the problems were not in fact with the water supply. In fact the owner's manager came to clean the pool when the water was on and put the hose into the pool and told us to leave it running for one and a half hours at least. We questioned this and he said it was ok whilst the water is on to use as much as you like. The problem we had was that the tank she had when filled wasn't big enough for 6 people and that was why when I spoke to her she told us to have 1 min showers. When the water was on but not in the villa we showered outside much to the children's amusement. The owner has said she needs a tank on ground level and bigger!!!!!!!!!!! She can keep telling everyone that.The holiday was not a cheap deal and it was booked more than 12 months in advance. Fortunately a hotel in Ayia Napa took pity on us and we paid for a room so that we could have showers. We would like the cost of that to be repaid to us by the owner hence asking for compensation but she says it wasn't her problem. The cost of a tank is a fraction of the cost of our holiday as advised by a taxi driver who couldn't understand why she didn't have one. I would not book a holiday direct with an owner ever again. PLEASE NOTE THE HOTELS ALL HAD WATER so going to Cyprus is not really a problem. Thanks for listening. This is a great site to use.

I can't speak for all hotels on the east coast but certainly in Limassol and Pissouri there are hotels & villas that don't have water 24/7.
Certainly any hotel away from the toursist areas, in a semi residential area or an area covered by the cuts will suffer. Limassol Municipality has tried as much as possible not to ration the water in the tourist areas so as not to affect holiday makers too much. Those holidaying away from these areas have been affected as have the residents.
For months now, my friend can only shower every other day.

The cost of a tank is a fraction of the cost of our holiday as advised by a taxi driver who couldn't understand why she didn't have one.

Wonderful how so many people can have an opinion on what someone else should do. The water problem in Cyprus is not a secret only available on the internet. There have been several articles in the press for the last few years, and not just in the travel pages.

fwh

Although some properties may have added an extra water tank - it's actually frowned on and there is talk of private dwellings running the risk of being fined if they are found to be stockpiling water.

My parents come for a month each November and usually stay in a private apartment on a complex but not a tourist complex. This time we've arranged their accommodation in a hotel rather than the apartment as we cannot guarantee they will have a consistent supply of water...

Most private villa and apartment owners are fully aware of the situation and are advising their guests that they may experience cuts in the supply. The drinking water goes off immediately and the tanks don't automatically refill when the shower is used whilst the water is turned off. However, as soon as the supply is reinstated - the tanks refill. Unfortunately, there is also a reduction in water pressure, which may mean the tank perhaps doesn't fill up as quickly as it should.

The water problem has been heavily publicised throughout Cyprus and as Loubychew says, we are having a daily supply brought to us from Greece.

We were experiencing cuts each Sunday afternoon until 8am on Monday morning up until 2 - 3wks ago but now all seems to be back to normal.

Since 2004, when there was significantly heavy rain that the dams overflowed and celebrations were seen throughout the island, there's not been a really heavy rainfall other than the bad storms in October 2006. After Feb 2004, it was deemed there was enough capacity in the dams to supply Cyprus for 3yrs. They were damn right (no pun intended).

Hopefully, we will get the rain we need this winter - everything is crossed in hope!

I doubt very much you will be entitled to make any kind of a claim but maybe the villa owner will decide to make a goodwill gesture

As always, all anyone can suggest here - is to do your homework and then some, before stepping into pastures new...

CwB

To fwh when the owner of a property won't help and a resident of the island, the taxi driver, asks how you are enjoying your holiday and you say you have had no water for 5 days, and you have worked damned hard for the money saved up to pay for the holiday, then yes he can have an opinion on what the owner should have done. He was Cypriot, the owner is British and she is giving his homeland a bad name. He wants us to come home saying we have had a great time and wants us to tell people how good his country is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As it happens we had a really good time, the hotel that came to our rescue was the best but we were left to foot the bill and I repeat all because the owner is take take take. If she had advised us of the situation we could have made a decision on that advice. Thanks for taking the time to reply though.

To Cyprus 100. Oh wise one and I mean that sincerely. A lesson for all. After saving up all that hard earned money make sure you not only look at the sun, temperatures, and pretty pictures, but spend a little time getting local info and may I say using sites like this one. Thanks for your reply.

Thanks to everyone for your relplies. We usually go to Egypt for holidays and are always advised that the water and electricity can go off at anytime. This has not put us off going so I think the bottom line of this particular debate is communication. Learnt alot from your replies.