Vale do Lobo has the same type of villa as Quinta do Lago, but a different rhythm. Here the property is not simply closed in winter and open in summer — it is rented in blocks, with arrivals and departures through a good part of the year.
That changes everything in the planning: the question stops being when to clean and becomes where the cleaning fits in the booking calendar.
The season calendar
It is the real problem in this area, and it is worth putting it on the table.
| Period | Typical situation | Window to work in |
|---|---|---|
| November to February | Property closed or in occasional use | Wide. The best time, no pressure |
| March and April | First bookings, season preparation | Good. This is when we recommend |
| May to September | Almost continuous occupancy | Minimal. Only between bookings, with the hours counted |
| October | End of season, departures | Good. An alternative to winter |
Whoever books in March or April does the work with time to spare and enters the season with the equipment in good order. Whoever only remembers in July is trying to fit two hours per unit between a ten o'clock check-out and a three o'clock check-in.
What the proximity of the sea does, and does not do
There is something worth clarifying honestly, because it is poorly explained.
Salt-laden sea air mainly attacks the outdoor unit — the condenser, the aluminium fins and the metal structure. That is why on properties close to the coast you see outdoor units with visible corrosion after just a few years, far more than in the interior of the Algarve.
That is not our work: we clean indoor units. But it is what we see when we are there, and we say so when we find it, because a corroded outdoor unit ends up affecting the performance of the whole system, however good the indoor unit is.
Indoors, the effect of the proximity of the sea is indirect: fine sand and salt particles enter with the air and join the normal dust. It saturates the filters faster.
Between bookings, how it works
On a property of six to ten units, we can do everything in one morning if access is arranged and the house is empty. On larger properties, we split it over days.
What we ask for this to work: access confirmed in advance, an indication of how many units there are and in which rooms, and someone contactable during the work. None of this is demanding — it is what avoids arriving and finding that the keys to two suites are missing.
The best windows are November to February, when the property is quiet, and March to April, before the season starts. From May to September there is rarely more than a few hours between a check-out and the next arrival, which is not enough for proper work on more than one or two units. If you manage several properties in Vale do Lobo, we plan the whole portfolio across the low season and give you a written record for each one.
