6/10 Okay
Alan P., Le Pecq, France
21 Aug 2022
Liked: Location, listing accuracy
Disliked: Cleanliness, check-in
House in Birmingham that could be much cleaner and better kept up
Globally we're not very happy with this stay, even though we were not expecting much.
There are some good aspects of this house. The neighbourhood is very quiet and we were able to park in the street just in front of the house. The kitchen is large with a gas range, although the freezer door is broken, the hood doesn't work and it's not very well furnished, for instance, missing a teapot, very few pots/pans.
Beds are reasonably comfortable, but we were surprised that for two of the beds, there was no "duvet cover" but instead a simple bed throw, as if a bed throw were sufficient. I texted the owner/manager on this point and he wrote that he "believed" that the bed throws were washed/changed each stay, although he didn't guarantee it. Still, I've never slept under a bed throw, so this was a first for me. We retrieved a sheet from the fourth bed to put a top sheet on the third bed.
The sole bathroom, touted for having a "jacuzzi", has a terrible smell and is quite dirty, mostly because parts of the marble walls of the bath are not correctly fit, seemingly from being removed/replaced, hence the joints are all askew. Black grime around many of the joints.
The front yard was strewn with litter and material from the installations in the house (a toilet seat, various cupboard doors, styrofoam packing boxes filled with green water). The entryway had a mop and bucket. The chairs are in a state of disrepair. The wiring is in a poor state. The floors were not particularly clean.
I had to prompt the owner on WhatsApp for the check-in information, for which he claimed that we should have received information from Travelnest, his service provider. He then required that we wire a deposit, although this was just a few days before the check-in. We did this and then awaited anxiously his reply, which we received 36 hours before the stay. I've never had such anxiety from any of our numerous other stays with VRBO.
The day of our arrival, a call from the owner because the cleaning crew had not passed. We were arriving late so this wasn't a problem but several texts from him.
I had to prompt the owner/manager to send on the refund of the damage deposit which had "slipped his mind".
The owner shows that the house is surveyed by camera, by listening devices and by motion sensors. But I don't see this same attention being paid to the upkeep and cleanliness of the house.
I don't like to give a bad review; this one is my first.
Alan P.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2022
