Serena Waterbed Seaview

We had a very nice, tidy apartment when we arrived, and though it was a bit dated, that didn’t bother us. The arrival itself, though, was a catastrophe. Communication with the hosts started out friendly and good, then got less pleasant. Nobody was there at the agreed time, and we couldn’t find the keys in the number-locked safe where they were supposed to be. When we called the owners, we learned the cleaning lady had come on the wrong day. That made sense, given that the owners seemed to keep changing guests’ arrival dates. We sat in the car for hours waiting for her to come from Aalst, 100km away, and then clean the place. It was getting dark by then. After a long, hellish drive in awful weather, we had to drag our bags inside in the dark instead of at noon, then fell asleep exhausted. We lost an “evening” and a night, so I asked straight away for compensation. It turned out I could get it, but only after I wanted to give a 10/10 rating on booking.com! The compensation they offered was ridiculously low, too. The cleaner had also run out of time and missed sand in the living room and a few pubic hairs in the bathtub. Not very Corona-proof, I’d say. Still, we didn’t let it ruin our plan to enjoy four days in Blankenberge. But apparently we weren’t meant to. At eight in the morning, workers in the apartment above started knocking and drilling. They kept at it all day, every day, including holidays and Sundays, until late at night. We literally didn’t get a minute’s peace. The weather on the coast was good for the time of year, so we could go out often, but we would have liked the choice of when to do that. Don’t rent this apartment. The owners are negligent and unreasonable, and they outright blackmailed us into upgrading their 9.2 (!) rating to a 10 out of 10 just to refund us for the afternoon and night. It’s scandalous that they did this. Now we know how they got their high rating, and they can keep their change. They’ll never see us again. ________________________ 22/11/2020: Update after the owner’s lies. This is the email they sent after I asked for compensation: "We are willing to fully refund the €50 you paid for this extra night, but we do want something in return, namely a good rating without any negative comments on Booking.com after checkout. [...] Our proposal is therefore: give us a 10/10 on booking.com after checkout and simply refrain from writing an online review, and we will immediately refund the €50. Kind regards, Herman and Linda" They don’t think that’s blackmail? Do NOT book here. You’ll be disappointed AND cheated.