Ferienhaus an der alten Feuerwache

I stayed here in late autumn 2022, and I can’t recommend it. You risk your money and your health. The cottage has a rustic, cozy feel, but that was about the only positive impression. Before the stay, we got an email saying there was water damage and we could use another vacation rental in the building. Later, the landlord said it was an automated message sent by mistake and that all was fine. The actual conditions made that earlier warning seem less random. Water dripped through a bedroom ceiling onto a bed that was already half soaked. When we called, the landlord seemed surprised and said nothing could be done on a Friday evening, and an emergency plumber wouldn’t make sense. Instead of coming to inspect it or find a solution, they told us to bring mattresses down from upstairs and put pots under the leak. We were told the shortage of mattresses was our fault for having too many people, even though our Airbnb booking correctly showed the number of guests. In the end, two of us had to sleep on the floor in the damp room, on a basic sofa bed only 1.2 meters wide. There were other serious problems around the house. Many windows couldn’t open, or only opened partway, and pillows had been set in front of mold growing on the windows. The dishwasher made loud, worrying sounds. One bathroom didn’t have a shower yet, and the tiles meant the sink’s hot water hose couldn’t be screwed in. It hung in the drainpipe overflow instead, flooding the bathroom whenever the tap was used. The faucets barely reached into the sinks, two bedrooms shared a bathroom that couldn’t be locked from either side, and iron nails stuck up from floorboards throughout the house. The apartment door’s combination lock didn’t work properly. Much of the furniture was alarmingly crooked and wobbly, some mattresses were quite dirty, and the upstairs apartment had a kitchen but no dishes or cutlery. The landlord also required a €400 security deposit. We didn’t know Airbnb didn’t permit that, and the money was only returned after the review period had ended. There were notes all over the house listing rules and deductions the landlord could take from the deposit for different violations, with almost no recourse. Missing cutlery or unpolished glasses, for example, meant a €10-€20 charge. Guests were expected to bring their own cleaning cloth to polish the glasses. Airbnb gave us a 30% refund, but didn’t help with the deposit. We chose not to post a review there because the host held the deposit until the review window closed, and Airbnb couldn’t let us leave a review afterward.

The holiday home was cozy and very clean, and with ten of us we had plenty of space. We spent lots of time there over our two-night stay and would gladly book it again for another weekend in Hameln. It’s central and has everything you could need. The landlord was very friendly, and communication was excellent, even over WhatsApp on Saturday evening. Thanks!

We were really disappointed by all the apartment rules. Three of us got just one roll of toilet paper, and we had to make the beds and strip them ourselves or pay extra. That’s especially frustrating with such an exorbitant final cleaning charge. If I book for three people, I expect the beds to be made and enough toilet paper provided. Neither happened. Whatever the pandemic, the price should have been adjusted. The whole thing feels outrageous. They can also charge extra for breaking the rules, even though there was a pile of trash next to the bins. Unacceptable. First and last time there.

One star for the location. Otherwise, this felt like a tourist rip-off, and I won’t come back. It’s advertised for eight people with two double beds and four singles, but a bunk bed around 1.8 meters long hardly counts as two single beds. Three of the other beds were small doubles, some arranged so you had to crawl over the person next to you to get out. Six of us found it too cramped, and the square footage is really enough for four, not eight. The two “wet rooms,” which is generous wording for bathrooms, had tiny sinks like guest bathrooms and no counter space. There was no light over the dining table, the tabletop was battered, and we had to make our own beds. The towels were low budget, there was only a smattering of toilet paper and one tea towel, even though guests are asked to polish the glasses. The dishwasher sounded strange, a window was broken with a hole in the glass, and the list goes on. The front door uses a code, which is a neat idea until you arrive in the dark and rain. You’d need one hand for a flashlight, one for an umbrella, one for the phone with the code, and another to type it in. Best not arrive alone unless you’re a four-armed alien. The price, over €600 for two nights, might shock you then.