Guest FAQ

We manage 30 homes along the central Algarve coast: most of them in Albufeira, the rest in Olhos de Água, Guia, Armação de Pêra, Porches and Quarteira. Every listing shows its location, and the full address reaches you in the guest portal once your booking is confirmed.

Each apartment has a maximum set by its Portuguese tourist licence (Alojamento Local), between 4 and 10 guests depending on the property. That number is a legal limit, not a preference, so we cannot take an extra guest even for one night.

A sofa bed, where there is one, is already counted inside that maximum. Sleeping on a sofa that is not part of the licensed capacity is not allowed.

A baby up to 2 years old sleeping in a travel cot normally does not count. Tell us the ages when you book and we will confirm it for your apartment before you pay.

The person who books must be 18 or over and staying in the apartment for the whole time. We cannot accept a booking made by a parent or a friend who will not be there, and we cannot host a group of under-18s on their own.

A group with some members under 18 is welcome as long as at least one adult stays with them and takes responsibility for the group.

Yes, and there is no charge for a baby cot or a high chair. Ask for them in the guest portal after you book and they will be in the apartment when you arrive.

Most of our apartments do not accept pets, including small dogs. A few do. The listing says so, and if you are unsure, ask us before booking rather than after.

No parties or events, in any of our properties. Only the guests on the booking may stay overnight, and we ask for quiet after 22:00 out of respect for the neighbours. This is the one rule where we are strict, and breaking it can end a stay early.

Not inside. Where the apartment has a balcony, terrace or garden, you are welcome to smoke there, with the windows closed behind you.

We cannot. The calendar is shared with Booking.com and Airbnb in real time, so dates belong to whoever books them first. If the dates are still open when you are ready, they are yours.

It depends on the apartment and the season, and the booking calendar will simply not let you select a stay that is too short. In high summer the minimum is usually longer.

Everything you need to live there:

• All the utilities: electricity, water, gas and WiFi, with no meters and no extras
• Bed linen made up, plus bath towels and floor mats for every guest
• A welcome kit: a bottle of wine, bottled water, coffee capsules, toilet paper, soap, shower gel and shampoo
• The final clean after you leave
• Our team on WhatsApp for the whole stay

A single fee charged once per booking, never per night, and it is shown before you pay. It covers preparing the apartment for you and cleaning it after you leave.

Albufeira charges a municipal tourist tax of €2 per guest per night, for the first 7 nights only. Guests under 13 are exempt. Other municipalities in the Algarve set their own rate, so your booking shows the exact amount for your stay.

You pay it when you complete your online check-in, before you arrive. It is a municipal tax, not a fee of ours, and it goes straight to the council.

If you booked through Airbnb, no. Airbnb’s own AirCover covers the stay and we ask for nothing.

For every other booking we request a refundable deposit through Swikly, seven days before you arrive. It is a pre-authorisation only: no money leaves your account, nothing is blocked as cash, and it lapses on its own after you check out. You never need to bring cash for it.

Where our team meets you in person, arrivals after 21:00 carry a €40 late check-in fee, because somebody stays on past their hours to hand over the keys and show you the apartment.

In apartments with self check-in there is no fee at all: you have the key-box code and you can arrive at whatever hour your flight lands.

• Beach towels: included in some apartments, otherwise €6 per towel for the stay
• A refreshing clean mid-stay, on request
• Airport transfer, booked from the guest portal
• Baby cot and high chair, free

In high season our rates are not negotiable: demand is high and availability is limited. Prices move with the dates and the season, so the same apartment genuinely costs different amounts across the year.

Where we can be generous is afterwards. Every guest gets 10% off their next stay booked directly with us, and the code is waiting in the guest portal.

Through the platform you booked on. Booking.com and Airbnb hold the payment and set the schedule, so questions about instalments, cards or refunds go to them and we cannot change those terms from our side.

For a direct booking, contact our team to confirm the payment options and schedule for your stay.

Yes. We issue a certified Portuguese invoice for your stay. Send us the name, address and tax number that should appear on it before you check out.

A private page for your booking, sent to you by email and WhatsApp after you book. It holds the address and directions, your arrival steps, the WiFi, the house manual, the check-out instructions, a map of the beaches and restaurants we actually use, and the activities you can book nearby. It works in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Polish.

Portuguese law requires every guest staying in licensed accommodation to be registered with AIMA, the immigration authority, before check-in. We need the passport or ID details of every guest, not only the person who booked.

It takes a couple of minutes in the guest portal, and it is the same form where you pay the tourist tax. It is genuinely mandatory: a stay that is not registered exposes both of us to a fine.

From 15:00 in most apartments, 16:00 in a few, until 21:00. Tell us your arrival time in the guest portal so the team can plan around it, and update it if your flight changes.

Sometimes, and you can ask in the guest portal. Two things decide it.

If another guest checks out the morning you arrive, the answer is no. The whole apartment is cleaned and prepared in between and there is no way to compress that.

If the apartment is free the night before, an earlier arrival is usually possible. We confirm it about a week before you travel, once the surrounding bookings have settled, so an answer given then is an answer that holds. Until then the standard time stands and your request stays registered.

Same rule, in reverse. Check-out is 10:00 or 11:00 depending on the apartment. If nobody arrives the day you leave there is usually room to be flexible, and we confirm about a week before. If guests arrive that day, the apartment has to be turned around and we cannot.

Yes, a private transfer to or from Faro airport, booked in a couple of taps from the guest portal. Worth doing in advance in summer.

It depends on the apartment: some have a private space, some have free parking nearby, some are in the old town where you park in a public car park. The listing says which, and the guest portal gives you the exact spot and how to reach it.

In most apartments a member of our team meets you at the door, hands over the keys, shows you how things work and answers whatever you want to ask. In apartments set up for self check-in you let yourself in with a key-box code, at any hour.

Where both are possible you choose, in the guest portal, and you can change your mind up to your arrival day.

For self check-in, the code and the video instructions appear in your guest portal 24 hours before you arrive, once your check-in form is complete. We do not send codes earlier, for the security of the guests staying before you.

Message us on WhatsApp as soon as you know, and update your arrival time in the guest portal. We would much rather move a check-in than have somebody waiting at a door. If the delay pushes you past 21:00 at a property with in-person check-in, the €40 late fee applies, since a team member stays on for you.

Beds made, towels out, the apartment cleaned, and a welcome kit on the counter: a bottle of wine, water, coffee capsules for the machine in the kitchen, toilet paper, soap, shower gel and shampoo. Enough to arrive at midnight and not need a shop.

WhatsApp, any day of the week, and the number is in the guest portal. Tell us as soon as something breaks or stops working rather than at check-out: almost everything can be fixed the same day if we know about it.

The network name and password are in the guest portal, with a QR code you can scan to connect without typing anything. WiFi is included everywhere.

In some apartments they are included and waiting for you. Where they are not, you can rent them for €6 a towel for the whole stay, arranged in the guest portal. Please keep the bath towels indoors either way, the sand is unkind to them.

The guest portal carries a map we built ourselves: the beaches worth the walk, the restaurants we send friends to, the nearest supermarket, the pharmacy. Alongside it you can book the Benagil sea caves, dolphin watching, sunset cruises and jeep safaris with local partners, at their own prices, paid directly to them.

A few habits that save trouble: never leave the key in the lock from inside, or the door will not open from outside. Close the windows when the air conditioning is running. Do not run every appliance at once, or the power may trip. And take the rubbish out to the street bins rather than leaving it inside.

Nothing heavy, the clean is ours. We ask only that you:

• Leave the apartment tidy
• Take the rubbish out to the outdoor bins
• Wash the dishes or load the dishwasher
• Close all the windows and shutters
• Turn off the lights and the air conditioning

In the key box by the door. The code appears in your guest portal from 15:00 the day before you leave, along with the exact steps, so you have it in your hand on the morning without having to ask anyone.

Message us as soon as you notice. If our cleaning team finds it we will keep it safe and agree with you how to get it back to you.

The Swikly pre-authorisation lapses on its own shortly after check-out. Nothing was ever taken, so there is nothing to refund and nothing for you to chase.

We will, once, and honestly it matters to us. If something was not right during the stay, tell us while you are still here so we can put it right, which serves you far better than reading about it afterwards.