Waterfrontmalaga Reviews 20

1. Misrepresentation of Payment Terms

Upon booking, the confirmation (attached) email explicitly stated that the property accepts credit cards and that half of the payment would be taken by card before the specified date. Nowhere in the confirmation documentation does it mention that any portion of the payment would be required in cash.

Despite this, shortly before arrival I was contacted by Booking.com claiming there were issues with my fathers card. There were none. Shortly afterward, the property contacted me and stated that although the issue had been 'fixed' the remaining balance "needs to be paid in cash" from an employee of 'waterfront' called Maria and that Auerlio 'will not wait while they go to an ATM' (I have this in writing via email). This requirement was not disclosed at any point prior to payment and is a clear breach of transparency obligations. The booking was also cancelled by booking.com because of the cash payment and booking.com systems which makes the unusual requests even more suspicious.

2. Forced Cash Payment Under Unprofessional Circumstances

Upon arrival, my parents, both in their 70s, were forced to hand over cash to an individual at the side of the road, without receiving any receipt. This is entirely unacceptable, raises serious tax‑compliance concerns, and creates significant safeguarding issues for elderly travellers.

3. Chaotic Check-In and Refusal to Communicate Professionally

The property did not answer phone calls and would only communicate via WhatsApp. The entire check‑in process was chaotic and deeply unprofessional.

4. Unacceptable Conduct: Locking a Bedroom Mid-Stay

The following day, the administrator informed my parents that someone would be entering the apartment to lock a bedroom door “because they hadn’t paid for it.”
Not only was this never communicated or agreed upon beforehand, but locking a room that was shown in the listing (and which included a double bed) materially changed the accommodation’s advertised facilities.

5. Unsafe Furnishings and Serious Health Risk

On the second last night, my father leaned gently on a coffee table, causing the glass top to crack. The table was clearly unsafe, poorly constructed, and a hazard. We are extremely grateful he was not injured; had a child been present, the outcome could have been serious or even life‑threatening.

The property has since refused to refund the €300 deposit until they “obtain a quote for replacement glass,” despite the fact that such an unsafe feature should not have been present in a holiday rental to begin with.

6. Poor Property Conditions

The apartment was in substandard condition, including:

broken toilet flushers
dirty wardrobes
evidence of vermin activity at night
This falls dramatically below Booking.com’s advertised standards.

7. Emotional Distress and Holiday Disruption

My parents spent their holiday anxious and intimidated, fearing their deposit would not be returned. This situation overshadowed their entire stay and ruined what should have been a relaxing break.

My opinion of this company is AVOID AVOID AVOID.

Aside from the dirty/stained bedding and various other grubby experiences, we have still to receive our CASH 250 euro deposit.

Appalling - waiting from October 2023 - keep emailing, just unresponsive.

I really don’t know where begin.

We had a lot of problem by paying to the right account. They charged to much money and would like the last €2800 to be in cash. We payed the deposit online but haven’t yet received the money back
When I e-mail them about the problem I don’t get an answer.

The house in Torremolinos was fine - except from we had a bit problem with the airconditioning and the pool (it made our bathingsuits green and we had to throw the close out). There were missing some quilts. There were not enough fór everybody.
Aurelio tryed to fix every problem we had and came when we wrote to him. He was also very large when we wrote to him that our flight were delayed.

But the paying and correspondence on email was beyond a big problem.

We absolutely wouldn’t recommend renting at them.

After making the booking, I read a lot of negative reviews about Watermalaga and was really worried that I had made the wrong choice. But now, after our holiday in Torremolinos – Villa Saudi, I can honestly say it’s time to change that perception and give them the credit they deserve. Everything was perfectly fine, and it turned out to be our best vacation yet.
I was in regular contact with Maria and Aurelio. I received the deposit refund after about 10 days, which wasn’t a problem at all. Maria sometimes replies the next day, but that’s totally understandable since she runs the office alone and manages many properties.
We truly thank Watermalaga for this great experience – it was wonderful, and we’d happily return again!

DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY!!
I was asked to pay the 2rd part of the rent and 350 euros in cash. With hindsight,this was a huge red flag, and I should have gotten in touch with Vrbro, the people I booked with. My holiday was ruined by angry notes constantly being left pinned to the apartment door. It seems that Waterfront has upset some of the residents.

I checked out leaving the apartment as I found it, only to be told that one of the apartment keys was missing, and one of the doors to the balcony had come out of the runner. Waterfront will make stuff up to keep your deposit. After I provided video evidence,the key was found, and the door was working fine.

I've been home now for two weeks,and I'm still waiting for my deposit back. Next time booking an apartment, I'll definitely make sure it's not managed by Waterfront Malaga.

Poor!

They will alter the money you pay. They’ll demand deposits in cash, so refunding simply wont happen. They’ve upset so many people in Torremolinos you’ll have your holiday ruined by people leaving threatening notes on your door. Their response to this will be ‘Ignore this, oh and don’t answer the door or let anyone in!!’ That’s made slightly easier because they’ve disconnected the door bell. Oh and when you leave they will make up stuff you broke or lost and guess what…. Keep that deposit you paid in cash!!! Don’t book with these, you’ll 100% regret it.

Its not worth doing business with them , the deposit dont come back , be carefull , dont pay deposit in cash be shure to make them go through the apart before leaving otherwise , they say something is broken

We have just had a 2 week holiday beginning of April, we had excellent correspondence from Maria and when we arrived we were met by Aurelio, who couldn’t do enough for us, if we needed anything he would sort it for us. The apartment was spacious and very clean, there was a washing machine and tumble dryer which was brilliant for a family. Close to the beach and Mercadona. We were very happy and will book again.

booked 2 weeks in Torremolinos at the Remus at la Carihuela. Communication with Maria and the company was fantastic . Maria met us late to hand over the keys to the apartment. We got our 300 euro breakage deposit paid back 4 days later. The apartment was great and we had no issues with Waterfront Malaga at all. I 100% would book through them again.

Its a scam this company !!!Dont book..You book and when you have paid they (Maria Salome)change your accomodation and location whit a new booking that you dindt had aproved...Then there follows a conversation in Spanish/english and at the end no reaction and loose your money.HUSLERS !!!!!!!

Do not use this company!!!
We booked an apartment in Torremolinos for a family holiday for August 2022, which they cancelled (for no reason) 2 days before we were due to fly out. We are still having difficulties (in October) trying to obtain the substantial deposit, which they originally said they had not received. They also use the language barrier to their benefit by saying they cannot understand your complaint. I would not use this company even if they said I could have the use of an apartment free of charge.

If I could leave a review with less thank 1 star I would.

If there are any reviews with more than 1 star, I think Waterfrontmalaga.com have written it themselves!!!!

We booked a villa in Torremolinos in August 2021 for a family holiday in July and August this year (2022).
We received an email (in Spanish) at the beginning April telling us that our booking had been cancelled with no reason given. We have attempted multiple times to request an explanation as to why the booking was cancelled and thus far all we have, is that the booking has been cancelled and the deposit has been refunded, I suppose we should be thankful for small mercies. We can only assume that as we booked so early and got a great price that the company has received a higher offer and we had been gazumped. If they provide an explanation I will be only too glad to update my review.

Very bad service, they refused to transfer the 250€ deposit back, claiming we broke stuff in the apartment. They refuse now to answer our calls...
You can check their bad reviews on Google Maps also.

An apartment was booked via the FeWo-Direct.de homepage for a month in Spain, Torremolinos, Playamar,. I received confirmation of this booking and contract directly from Home Waterfront Malaga company. I was then informed by FeWo-Direct that Home Waterfront had canceled the booking through FeWo-Direct. When I asked why, the owner said she didn't know. A provable lie!

I constantly received contract changes with different prices or different conditions for to pay more, then also with additional costs or changed payment dates. When I asked, I always got the answer that it would be standard mail and that she had no influence on it. A provable lie!

The constant threats and demands to additional costs began right away with our booking at the end of August 2021 and culminated on the day we left Germany by car in December 2021. On that day, I received an e-mail on the way, in which she now claimed that another payment of EUR 1,200 had not been transferred and that this must therefore be paid in cash on arrival.

Due to the account movements, I had to show this person again and again that they work incompetently and that all payments were made in accordance with the contract.
The next day I received another email confirming that all payments had been made.

The whole booking process was a disaster. Complaints are not responded to. No apologies were given for mistakes that I constantly had to prove. In the meantime I had to get the impression that the Agent no longer wanted me as a customer because I kept rejecting your contract changes as inadmissible and pointing out errors. So I offered her to cancel the contract. She should refund the money and the contract is declared void.
No answer, no reaction!

The conditions constantly mention what the tenant's obligations are and what "penalty" he has to pay if he does not comply with them.

The apartment has very large rooms and large windows, which we liked. However, it looks nicer in the pictures than it's in the reality. The furniture style is from the 1980's and these should also be used very carefully. Overall, the apartment is in urgent need of renovation, especially since there are structural defects in the windows.

When we took over the apartment, we found defects in the baseboards in the door frames to the bathrooms, which we demonstrably complained about. A repair was promised, but as expected never happened.

A certain number of parking spaces are assigned directly to the building on the enclosed site. The number plate should be recognized automatically by a camera and the gate opens automatically.
Unfortunately, this only worked for the first two days. For each further use we then had to call the local "emergency service", which opened the gate for us.
I then wrote to the Agent and asked them to make sure I didn't have to keep calling the emergency number. As an answer I received in a short sentence per Mail, only the hint that I should call the number …. (i.e. the emergency number) call.

Telephone calls were generally not answered. Either she just had her siesta or I received a terse unfriendly WhatsApp message saying "What do you want?".

Two days before departure I received two emails. In one I was told how to leave the apartment, otherwise I would have to pay a fine, and in the other email I was sent a link to rate the company.

But the link was no longer available to me. I received a message that I had already submitted my review. A lie!

All in all I have to say that Home Waterfront Malaga, managed by Maria (Office) and Aurelio, is not a company that I would recommend. The customer is treated with arrogance, while the entire process is characterized by stupid incompetence. There is a well-founded suspicion of cheating customers in a perfidious form.

During the entire booking process and also on site, my lawyer was involved in order to take criminal and civil legal action immediately if necessary. I think, this fact, about which I also informed the broker, prevented me from having such experiences as other vacationers who report here that they had been cheated of the deposit.

In this form - you don't need realy holidays.

The company is not recommended based on my proven personal experience. Even if the pictures on the Internet may look nice - they are pictures that do not have to correspond to the truth - as in my case.

Rented an apartment from this company on Airbnb in Castillo Santa Clara for one week starting on September 14th 2021. When we arrived the front door frame was badly damaged and had been poorly fixed with lots of broken plaster falling off I pointed out the issue and the person told me it happened as a result of someone leaving the two doors open and it slammed, however when I requested my 300 euro damage deposit back I was told NO it was being held to fix the door we broke,Lots of other issues in the apartment broken drawers locked wardrobes with limited hanging space left to use, poor quality bed and filthy pillows, so be aware of this company they are very devious and not honest in their practices see tripadvisor for more un happy clients,

We really appreciated your very good services and attentions.See you next year. Excellent location and views, good access to the promenade.Apartment has everything that you need, will definitely be back. Thank you so much Aurelio, Carlos and Maria.

Booked with this company through Homeaway, now Vrbo. At time of booking I was advised that I would be eligible for full refund if cancelled before a set date.

They're not being totally honest as they withhold 50 euros for 'administration' costs. That's 50 euros for the pleasure of writing your name in a diary and then rubbing out a few days/weeks/months later. Very expensive pencils and erasers.

Booked an Apartment with this Company on 27 Sep 20 for 3 days (4-7 Nov 20) and 18days later the Airline cancelled the flights to Malaga due to a State of Emergency announced by the Spanish Govt.
Asked very politely a few time for refund .....or at least a voucher later when flights return........NO!!
As a pensioner, cash is hard to come by, and we feel that we have put money in their pockets, and not received the goods. In another world this would be classed as "theft" or "fraud." They have even advertised the place "for rent" for these dates knowing we are unable to be there. Stay clear, and remember the name.....WATERFRONTMALAGA.COM

This company is the local representative of TUIvillas and Atraveo. They are receiving the deposits for the renting of apartments and houses.
But at the end they are NOT returning the deposit and they are pointing to TUIvillas ansd Atraveo and say these companies are not returning the money.
The whole construction of the renting of apartments/houses by these companies is a fraud!!
DO NOT BOOK a rental with these companies.