Agua Hotels SAL Vila Verde

This is our second time in Sal, Cape Verde, previously having stayed across the road at an all inclusive Tui resort so we knew the area well. This resort is much bigger than I had expected and is very clean and tidy throughout. The resort does not let the place down at all, it is the management and the running of the business that is an absolute disgrace. We arrived on Christmas Day 2024 reaching the hotel at around 5pm. We had booked a 1 bedroom superior room apartment. On check-in we were given our room key cards, 2 towel cards and directions to the room. All seemed fine to up to now... On entering and inspecting the apartment, we noticed the following issues: 1. Our safe was unusable as the previous guests had closed the safe door locking it (it is a combination operated safe that requires the door to be open to enable you to set your own combination). 2. Our fridge freezer was not working (no power). 3. The bedroom had 2 x single beds in it, we are a married couple so had expected a double bed. The beds has 1 small pillow, 1 bottom and 1 top sheet, and no other bedding was supplied at all. 4. The microwave oven had no glass turntable plate inside, this was missing so the microwave would be unusable. 5. There was no hairdryer in the apartment (advertised as supplied). 6. There was no toaster in the apartment (advertised as supplied). Also the advertised 'Tea and Coffee making facilities' is in fact a cheap plastic jug kettle. 7. There wasn't even 4 of each with regards to plates, bowls, cups, glasses etc. The kitchen cupboards were mostly bare and there was only 2 casserole style pans (no frying pans, no saucepans, no oven trays or grill trays, no mixing bowls etc). We contacted reception to report all the issues. Reception sent someone to look at the fridge freezer. Apparently it was a tripped fuse. However, we then went to get some basics from the shop and on return noticed the fridge was still warm. Reception was again contacted and they wanted us to wait until the next day. Only after explaining that we now had fresh food in the fridge did they send the engineer back and he had to replace a part in the fridge freezer but at least this issue was now resolved. We were told that the safe would not be resolved until the next day as the hotel manager had to be present for staff to be granted permission to manually open a room safe and he had just left for home. Whilst this is a good policy, the matter was reported 4 hours earlier so why was it not resolved before he left for home? The pool towel cards that we were issued are a waste of space. I visited reception every day of our 7 days holiday and there were never any towels available (several other guests were witnessed experiencing this same issue). The hotel part of the complex is very small as most of the complex is apartments that are for sale. Around the pool there are only 40 sun loungers (not enough even at this quite time, and yes people do leave their towels on them and disap

The hotel has good furnished self-catering apartments in a big modern Resort that is quiet and further from the centre. They offer breakfast, pool, shuttle bus and a supermarket on sight. They even have restaurant and cafes. Nothing super special but a good place to stay even for a longer time!

Rooms are extremely clean, resort is very quiet and most of vilaverde town is uninhabited like a spooky place, supermarket is hidden and coffeeshop closed, bicycles can be rented but quality is low standard better hire in santa maria, beach is in walking distance, overall if you like relaxation its a good place to stay, beds are below standard a simple bonell system with foam layer, its bad for weak backs. Tapwater is drinkable because all water in Sal is made from reverse osmosis seawater, take in account wateroutages are common practise. I had a good stay and enjoyed the beautiful beaches and weather

The hotel itself is apartments with a team of staff and restaurants. The pool is clean and the staff are friendly. Our room was a bit basic only one pillow each and the mattresses must be 20 years old but otherwise clean and well equipped. There is a fantastic beach and bar belonging to the hotel which we discovered by accident. On the sea fromt there is a really good scuber diving centre which runs a range of trips and kayak hire/snorkel etc. The holiday was a little ruined at the end by a tab being run up on our room which was signed for by a forgery (We did not charge anything to the room) We refused to pay the matter is still not resolved and became quite scary as we tried to book out.