Vacation Letting - Unit 3 The Bridge

There’s plenty of room in the living, kitchen and dining areas, and it works for self-catering if that’s what you’re after. The unit itself is large, though the queen bed barely fits in the second bedroom. The master bathroom is very cramped, and in both bathrooms the toilets are almost on top of the tiny basins. There was no Wi-Fi. I booked during the Covid period and expected a high standard of cleaning and sanitation based on the website and photos. We arrived at about 15h30 on Sunday, after the 14h00 check-in time, and found visible residue on the kitchen counters, a dirty master toilet inside and out with brown patches on the outside, and taps in both bathrooms that looked very dirty and hadn’t been wiped. The shower grout in both bathrooms had black mildew. The unit also hadn’t been swept properly: the corners were very dirty, there were lots of spiders and cockroaches, and the plugs and dressing tables weren’t very clean. The towels and bed linen had marks too. They may have been ingrained stains, but still not what I’d hoped for. I called the hostess, Odette, about the condition of the place. She said I’d have to wait until Monday because the staff don’t work Sundays, and insisted that the shower floors were stained rather than dirty. As a hostess, I’d have expected her to check the unit herself before we arrived. Instead, I got the impression we were meant to put up with things until the next day, which wasn’t reassuring in an unfamiliar place with small children. The booking confirmation said Odette would meet us on arrival or the next morning, but she never came or called to see whether the place was suitable. I had to contact her, and even after I told her the bathrooms had been cleaned better on Monday, she didn’t acknowledge it. The brochure didn’t explain towel changes or soap supplies, so I had to ask Odette about the policy. I’d assumed fully serviced meant fresh towels and toiletries each day, though I should have checked before booking. After the first day’s dirt, an offer to change the towels earlier or provide extra toiletries would at least have been a goodwill gesture. Odette came across as not very interested. Overall, the cleanliness and lack of towel changes made this a poor fit for me, especially during Covid.

Neat and nice.