Holiday Home Sofia La vie est belle

The apartment sits in central Bollendorf, right across the Sauer River, but it’s on the main road. Sleeping with the windows open was difficult, so bringing earplugs is a good idea. The bins are directly below the bedroom windows, as others have mentioned, though there was no bad smell for us. The place itself is small but charming, with the bedroom right at the entrance and a little kitchen leading to the bathroom. It’s furnished nicely and practically. Still, there was a musty smell as soon as we walked in, like the previous guests had only just left and no cleaning had happened. There’s a dehumidifier, although it wasn’t damp during our stay. The bed seemed freshly made, but smelled strongly of the previous guests. When we turned it back, we found hairs and crumbs. There was dirt across the floors too, and after that first impression we started looking more closely. Dead insects were on the kitchen windowsill, and the cupboards had bread crumbs and weren’t clean. I won’t go into all the cleaning details, since the photos speak for themselves. At the very least, the cupboards could have been wiped so we wouldn’t find the previous occupants’ handprints. Cobwebs in a corner can happen, but there were some in almost every corner. We found a used towel on the bathroom radiator, hair and other things in the toilet, and spots on the mirror. There was already mold between the wall and shower tray, which is simply unacceptable. Later, when looking in the hall for cleaning supplies, we came across “stored” bed linen, cutlery, and other items. It wasn’t very appetizing. The required waste sorting wasn’t possible because there were no designated “yellow” bags, so we used clear plastic ones. I occasionally smelled the towel left on the bed to check its “freshness” and could smell sweat. I pointed it out to my partner, who confirmed it, because I could hardly believe it. After that, I dried myself with a hairdryer. Only while writing this review did it really sink in that we’d paid over €100 per night. I don’t know the usual prices in the area, but at that rate I expect a reasonably clean apartment. Basic cleanliness should be standard at any price. The positive Google reviews are a mystery to me. Other booking platforms give a different picture when you look at the details. The replies there to cleanliness complaints show little understanding and suggest a different idea of what clean means. There are several apartments in the building, so perhaps we just got an unlucky one. We left after one night and cut the stay short. We didn’t contact the owners because, judging by their responses on other platforms, we didn’t expect it to fix anything. Besides, a cleaning crew isn’t going to arrive late at night and turn the apartment upside down. This should all be done before guests arrive. After the stay, they ask for a 5- or 10-star review depending on the platform. Communication felt very impersonal overall, and this isn’t an apartment we’d book again.