To have expected that the owners of this holiday let would not be living in the building.

A negative review about an unsafe pool cover and owners coming and going at 1 am would put me off a property. I would not be thinking "oh, the OP should have made more of an effort to enjoy things since everyone else was fine with this". Also, I don't speak Dutch so I might not have bothered to translate them.

OP. sorry about your back, I would follow up about the pool if it breaks the law.

@RoseAlone

Did you rtft?

As ascertained above, the other reviewers appear to have read a different advert on a french website which states that the hosts live there.

So to use your analogy, these other reviewers bought a red coat that was advertised as a red coat, whereas OP bought a red coat that was advertised as blue.

And 93% of people agree that it was advertised as blue in this instance.

@RoseAlone we see you pal... 😂

Have not read full thread but would it be possible to make a chargeback claim via Visa or Mastercard? Keep all screenshots / messages recorded / details of medication to show you were unable to try move accommodation.

If a purchase has gone wrong, the seller will not refund you and you used your debit or credit card to make the purchase, you may have the option to make a chargeback claim through your bank and get your money back. A chargeback, otherwise known as a dispute, is a way for your bank to reclaim money from the seller’s bank when you don’t receive the goods or services you paid for, including if the retailer or supplier has gone out of business.

Take screenshots of the entire advert in case they change anything. I’d be furious

Contact VRBO on any every platform available not just about the translation but the French door lock and the pool.
Send them photos of both.

If it woke me up more than once, I would be annoyed.

I think RoseAlone comment is unfair. The least you can expect when you rent a holiday home is that they don’t break the law. I certainly wouldn’t expect to have to check that. If you want recompense threaten to report them as the French take swimming pool safety very seriously after some horrible cases of children drowning.
it is a misleading advert in that it says ‘entire home’ and ‘house’ in combination. We have rented properties in Switzerland regularly and it has always specified whether it is a whole chalet or an apartment and whether the owner lives on site so you know exactly what you are getting.

The English listing on Vrbo is completely misleading. I have read the French one and it says that the owners live on-site in an apartment and also details the cleaning fee. Paying for end-of-stay cleaning or doing it yourself is completely standard in French properties but should be clearly communicated beforehand. It's also not uncommon for owners to live somewhere on-site or nearby so I always check the listing carefully.

In this case, I think you need to complain to Vrbo and get them to refund the cleaning fee as they have a dedicated English web page and it hasn't published the information correctly. Do you have a booking contract with terms and conditions?

I always book properties through Gites de France rather than via Vrbo or Air BnB which deal privately with the owners. The English language version of their website is pretty good. I have also learned to email the owners in advance of arriving to check if end-of-stay cleaning needs to be pre-booked as I was once caught out by this.

If you were concerned about your child's safety then you should have checked all of this out before booking. It's clear that there are no barriers or nets around the pool and it's patently obvious the pool cover only maintains heat and keeps the pool clean.
You have a responsibility to do your due diligence in these sort of things, both with the property and where you're going, their customs etc. and unfortunately you didn't. That's not the owner or vrbos fault.

Owners are usually excellent in answering questions particularly about pools etc and it's something I always double check before booking anything.

I get it's not what you expected but as I said before, it's actually very clear. Many of the reviews mention the owners and compliment them on their discretion etc, the pictures are clearly from the upper part of the house.

You can leave all the negative reviews you want but all it will illustrate is that the other 16 families understood what they were booking and you didn't.
It's a bit like buying a red coat and then complaining that you wanted a blue one. Oh and stress doesn't put your back out.

Unfortunately you've chosen to not make the best of beautiful surroundings and a lovely holiday home, that's your choice.

The advert says all op needs to do is remove bedding and towels and put rubbish in the bin. There is nothing about cleaning.

Does this mean French rentals are cleaned by previous tenants and not professional cleaners? This is adding to my reasons for not going back to France.

Op, don’t clean the place. Call up your credit card company and put a stop on it. I’ve booked plenty through Vrbo and this is a disgrace!

They're not sharing rooms. They do have the entire property that was advertised.

It's very common in these sort of places. You can tell that it its only the upstairs of the house from the pictures and the reviews are pretty clear too. Look more carefully next time

Requiring you to clean is standard in France. It is also the law in France that all pools must be securable in a way that children under 5 cannot get in. That means fencing all round, an alarm or a fairly robust cover. The covers have to be certified to the required standard.

If they don't have that, they are breaking the law and although no one enforces it on private properties, in a holiday let they can certainly be fined. That's probably why you are being asked for a photo of the pool, and what you can expect to get money back for. I would be focussing the fuss you make on that.

"Entire home" to me just means a whole flat, house or apartment rather than sharing rooms in a dwelling. They're not at fault there. But it shouldn't have come up as a "house" coupled with 'entire home." That sucks. And they sound very inconsiderate and a bit shit in how they've dealt with your requests.
Really sorry to hear about your back and that you're in so much pain.

"If anyone has any advice regarding all of this, please do let me know. I'm feeling really stressed and now anticipating a conflict at checkout, on top of everything else."

@WatchingCometsLand I posted this earlier in your thread, there's a fb group specifically dedicated to bad experiences with VRBO, has much useful info.

The exact post I've linked is a success story wrt VRBO issues. Sadly, it seems you may be in for the long haul.

It also says rooms open to patios. Do all the rooms do this?

Do vrbo have a page on twitter? If so I’d be posting on there.

Or post it to Vrbo customer service!

Leave a turd in the cistern

They have been really deceitful imo. It says over and over 'house'not a flat. Complain. Good luck.

We turned up to our very rural holiday cottage on a Scottish island to see the owner washing up from our kitchen window... And 2 large fucking outside ddogs +11 puppies barked and whimpered all night for 2 sold weeks.
We declined first dibs on the following years booking..

It is quite common in France to expect your guests to clean and to inspect to ensure it’s done. Even when I have already paid the cleaning fee I was berated for not leaving the property fully cleaned. However they should at least state this on the instructions. Your experience has put me right off VRBO, Airbnb is usually fairly detailed about these things and the property description.