“The property was a lovely place, but let down by various areas.”
Frustratingly most of those areas were already mentioned in previous reviews. That, along with their lack of resolving a major issue for us in our week, does lead me to believe the owners don't care enough about making their home a top holiday experience, which is a shame given the overall booking cost.
The main issue was that the TVs never worked for the whole holiday, due to a problem with the aerial. When we raised this, the communication back to us was not great, having to chase several ...
Frustratingly most of those areas were already mentioned in previous reviews. That, along with their lack of resolving a major issue for us in our week, does lead me to believe the owners don't care enough about making their home a top holiday experience, which is a shame given the overall booking cost.
The main issue was that the TVs never worked for the whole holiday, due to a problem with the aerial. When we raised this, the communication back to us was not great, having to chase several times. Eventually someone was sent out to investigate, with it being implied it would be a TV engineer (as we had to wait until Monday afternoon so they could get someone), but it was ultimately a nice handyman who just confirmed everything I had already told the owner. He left, and we heard nothing more from anyone. The lack of any contact from the owner apologising, either during or after our stay (I've given them 2 weeks), is very disappointing indeed. It's also frustrating as for less than £200 the owners could purchase a smart TV, and allow renters the ability to at least stream channels. So easily rectified.
Of more minor details, there was a lack of basic kitchen implements - oven gloves, chopping boards, even not much cutlery and crockery for a house that takes 7 people. These comments have been made in the past, with nothing done about them. I also had no response on them when I raised them during the week.
We'd received an email about 3 months before our stay informing us of a damaged shower door. It was a shame to see it still being an issue for our stay. Particularly as it was just a damaged 'runner' - with tools I could have fixed it within about 10 minutes, as our old house had the same shower.
Finally, the clothes airer is totally inadequate, being so small and fragile. Again, this has been commented on several times, with no changes to it. You could get a good sized airer for about £20-25. I think an airer is pretty important in a seaside holiday cottage, where cleaning and drying towels and beachwear is obviously a reasonable requirement.
So, for the cost of less than £300, the owners could easily rectify these issues for the long term. They may seem minor, but when charging well over £2k for a stay, it's reasonable to expect a certain level.
It's a real shame, because the house is a lovely house - nice decor, spacious rooms, comfortable beds and sofas, pleasant private garden, nice location in the village, off street parking. It wouldn't take much to have this house as a 5* house, and one I'd want to come back to again, and recommend to others.
