I stayed Villa Piras in May for 3 nights. My friend could not join because of trouble in the office... so she had to cancel her room 1 day prior to her arrival. She has been charged full 3nights, which was fine by her as it was mentioned Booking.com's cancellation policy.

So, I arrived on my own, walking from Bus stop in the central. From outside, you see the big balconies on the upper floor so naturally you would expect those ones to stay. Then I was given a room on the ground floor, you can guess my dissapointment.

The room was very big and clean, only lacking the natural light - which is a big issue for me. However, I thought maybe because I will be out all the time it would not bother...but actually it did. It has no view to outside, if you open the window you see next building and the hotel's landaury room which you hear the washing machine whirring.
On the back of room door, with somewhat stern English, there is a note which mentions early departure's penalty - that made me suspicious there may be many people complaining the room?
The next morning I asked for the change of room with more light.
The lady at the front does not speak English at all and it is completely full(yes, including my friend's cancelled room!), she said in Italian. So I was disheartened and had breakfast.

Breakfast here is not too bad for Italian standard. Normally Italian hotels you are served cake or cookies only! They have Yogurt and salami with Croissant and biscotti, and some fruits. The horrid was coffee from machine. And Fruit "juice drink". Can't get proper orange juice??

After breakfast I was called by the lady, and she said that I was one person so maybe I want single room upstairs.

The room indeed had only single bed but it was facing south I could see the bit of sea!
And the best part is it had that room size of balcony. So gladly I swap the room. The single room had no fridge in the room but I didn't stay for long term so it was fine.
There was no notification for early departure or room rate on the door.

This lady was very helpful even though I don't understand much of Italian, she was trying to explain the area and lend me a beach towel.

The nearby rocky beach was not very appetising maybe because it was still low-season, rubbish were everywhere.
So I borrowed a bicycle to cycle up to Maria Piras where pine tree forest and further to find pritine beaches.
Lido itself is OK but too many people and feel of "in the town".

When checking out, there was this lady again. She showed me the original booking form and asked for 210 euros. So Double for 3 nights, that was the deal. But I have changed to single. Surely the rate goes down?
That was too complicated to ask with language barrier. Anyway I had a good time and she was lovely, so I just settled the bill.

Some question came back when Booking.com had asked me the review. I checked Villa Piras website, and found the room rate was 50 for single room.
So I was overcharged 40 euro? I enquired the hotel.

The reply came. The single room upstairs is actually "superior" and 60 euros p/n.The reason it does not show on the website is evryone wants rooms with balcony. So Double room Upstairs is actually 80 instead of 70.
(So translating this, they want to fill up the ground floor rooms, they use Booking.com? Surely they should mention they are "economical room"?)
And the hotel has to pay the commission to Booking.com for 3nights double, so there is very little money they owe me so they can't make any transaction back to me.
Which is not appropriate as all they do is credit back to my account and charge the correct amount. When they could charge my friend's card without her presence,surely they know how to do it.

So they offered 10% discount my visit next time...lovely. How much of the chance I will go there next time soon?
By then I knew they had promotional rate for May/June, 63 euro for double at Trip Advisors, which pissed me off more.

However, don't be put off by my review - it is lovely hotel, probably I would not have minded that much being in the ground floor room if my friend had been with me. I assure you - just make sure you have a room with balcony and the rate is right!

We arrived early evening but the hotel had previously phoned up to arrange a taxi to pick us up at the airport for us which was £25 for the both of us one way which was convenient as we were tired and finding the hotel dragging heavy bags was not on our agenda.
We arrived at the hotel and were greeted by a very friendly night recepetionist who during our stay helped with every single of our needs, recommending us where to go to watch the copa del rey football match, bottle opening, borrowing plates etc.
The room was very large and had two extra single beds we did not use, the bathroom had a shower and washbasin and all regular facilities. There was also a lovely terrace outside where we had a cmall crack view of the sea but not the best as a majority of other guests had a sea view so we felt a bit let down. The terrace was lovely though to absorb the evening atmosphere and sunset everyday to a bottle of red wine. The room also had lots of storage space, a tv and a fridge.
The rooms were very clean although the decor was very old and could do with a refurb. There were lots of fresh towels. The breakfast in the morning was lovely, there were the most amazingly fresh tasty croissants in the world, as good as french standards, there were also biscuits, cereals, yoghurts and other pastries and butter and jams to feast on. There was only a cheap nescafe coffee machine which as everyone else has commented makes pretty rubbish coffee but there were teas aswell. The only other issue was the maid coming very early every morning around 10 o'clock so you had to ask her to come back later/ not clean for the day, this was a bit annoying but we worked around it by going to the beach.
The immediate surrounding area has lovely views of the town and sea as the hotel is in the east side of the town which is more pretty, lovely for watching sunsets on the benches. there are a few small beaches close by but they are not well maintained and a very dirty with lots of rubbish and mess. The best beaches are out of town where the water is nicer to swim and there is less rubbish. I would highly recommend hiring some pedal bikes to explore and double check always when ordering at restaurants as they can charge you extra for things like vegetables with your mains.
Pizza restaurant below villa is lovely where wine is good value, 7 euro for two carafs whilst we watched the football but the food looked amazing also, very fresh open plan kitchen.

The Villa Piras is listed in Lonely Planet and was our second choice – the first choice was fully booked. We stayed at the Villa Piras for three nights at the end of September. From the outside the hotel has nice character and contours, not the big box style so common with hotels. The lobby was pleasantly appointed and the staff was very friendly. This is a family run hotel and it shows in the care of the building. Our room was tastefully decorated, with local colour. It was large and very clean. The bathroom was also very clean and had plenty of towels. The whole room was comfortable. It came with a fridge and free WiFi. Our room was close to the lobby so we had WiFi access in the room. Breakfast was better than we had thought, consisting of bread, cold meats, cheese, yoghurt and cereals. Other reviewers had complained about the coffee, but it is now very good.

Our shower did not drain very well. One comment to the owner and the drain was cleaned. It worked fine after that. So the attention to detail and to our comfort was quite evident with all of the family members. When setting up the WiFi, I was offered a cup of coffee. Small deeds make a fine hotel and this one meets the criteria. The room bedding and towels were changed on a daily basis.

We strongly recommend this hotel to use as a base to visit Alghero (a 15-20 minute walk) and the beautiful surrounding area. Car parking is available for €5 or for free on the street right in front of the hotel.

I like this small hotel just outside Alghero centro. The family that runs it make you feel like home. They helped us with everything we asked for. Me and my two kids really enjoyed our stay. We choosed to walk to the large beach across the town, but you can go by bus if you like. It´s about 35-40 minutes walk. But nearby the hotel is a very nice small beach, that my kids realy liked.