Highfields Town House

This place was horrible, I didn't sleep and felt vulnerable. The walls are so thin I could clearly hear people talking in the other two rooms. There was nobody to greet me, and apparently it's known as a bad area. It felt more like a hostal. The carpets were stained, the fridge was noisy and old, and the door was broken and hanging off. The shower didn't have a holder for its head, which was disgusting, and there was thick black gunge around the bottom of the shower doors. They'd left a round hotel-style soap that had already been used, with pubic hair stuck to it. It wasn't as described at all.

The house and location are beautiful, but this visit needed some care and a proper clean. We'd stayed once before and everything had been perfect, clean and tidy. Just a week later, though, the bathroom was dirty when we arrived and smelled awful. There was no hot running water, a large wet puddle in the kitchen and the bins hadn't been emptied.

I booked this while travelling to visit a friend, then needed to change my dates because of an injury. For 16 days I tried to get in touch, first to reschedule and then just to cancel. They didn't reply by email or phone, and the booking company I asked to contact them for me was ignored too. Only on the day of the booking did they answer my messages, refuse the date change and then refuse the cancellation. There was availability on the dates I'd asked for, but they chose to provide no service and keep the €100 I'd paid. Avoid at all cost. Who would want to stay somewhere with that kind of customer service?

The place was clean, but the description was seriously misleading. I booked because it said the room had soundproof walls and a mini cooker hob, but neither was true. It's basically a HMO with a shared kitchen that had no saucepans or cutlery, and the oven was broken. The walls are very thin, and I had to put up with the couple in the next room getting their freak on all night.