To think if your holiday rental doesn't start till Saturday then you can't expect to turn up on Friday.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Seriously, I think some people are slightly unhinged.

We had a last minute holiday rental in France last week, booked direct through the owner who lives in the UK.

Late Friday night a couple turned up and were suprised to find us there.

The deal with the keys were you went to a garage in the apartment block and got two sets of keys out a secure coded box on the wall. As we were leaving 6am on Saturday I'd put one of they keys in the box - they'd actually got the key and came into the apartment.

Apparantly they thought the apartment had been empty the week before their booking so thought they'd sneak in a day earlier. They then asked if they could stay in the apartment on the bed settee that night as it was late and they had no idea where else to go.

I feel a bit of a bitch now but I said no and took the key off them and practically frog marched them out! No idea where they went as we were off early the next day.

[Bogeyface]

I take it that the woman was sacked Carabos? I would be fuming if I was them!

[SauvignonBlanche]

Cheeky fuckers!

[aldiwhore]

I was going to say 'it depends on the situation' but only because I didn't read the title properly, we quite often ask if we can add days either end if there's no booking and so far we've only been turned down once, with one particular set of owners they don't charge us either (we always buy them flowers/gift etc).

YANBU and the situation you describe is absolutely outrageous!! You did the right thing but I understand why you worried.

[Startail]

YANBU
Holiday lets are Sat pm to Sat am unless very clearly stated otherwise.
I have done an odd mid week one this time of year because the camp site had let the caravan Good Friday onwards and they let us have it for a few days to see family the week before.

[carabos]

bogey we spent a few days at the woman's "gite" being fobbed off every day that we could go to our friend's house "tomorrow". In the end we drove 1000 km to FiL and MiL's place in Spain and spent the rest of the holiday there. Our friends were mortified.

[ChasedByBees]

Carabos that is outrageous!

OP I can't believe the cheek of some people.

[verytellytubby]

That is unbelievably cheeky! Wondering if I could get an extra night in the summer

[DontmindifIdo]

Please tell the owner!!! go on, today while the renters are still there. Say you were upset by it too - you might get some of your money back...

[StanleyLambchop]

I suspect they have done it before and got away with it. She seemed very brazen for a 'first timer'. (I would have been a nervous wreck doing this, incase we were caught)

[expatinscotland]

I'd tell the owners. Cheeky feckers.

[scripsi]

It really is theft, you must absolutely tell the owners! I wonder if they were going to extend their stay by the same reasoning?!

[Bogeyface]

Carabos, that it outrageous! what happened? Did you end up having to go home?

What did your friends say?

[Bogeyface]

I think kicking them out was the right thing to do if only because it means that they wont try to do that again. They have learnt a valuable lesson! I would let the landlord know in a "Was there a mix up with bookings? because a couple turned up on Friday night....." kind of way!

[carabos]

I have experienced this in reverse. We arrived in France to stay at a friend's holiday home. They were in the UK and had an arrangement with a locally based expat British couple to manage the place for them - not as a favour, on a commercial basis.

We arrived on the specified day only to be told by the woman that as the place "wasn't ready" we would have to stay at the hotel in the village . We made the point that we didn't mind if it wasn't ready, we would manage for the night and she could get everything done the next day - we didn't want to stay in a hotel and nor had we budgeted for it.

Cutting a long story short, it turned out that she had put some other people into the house, charging them the going rate and took the chance that we would go along with the hotel thing because we are close friends with the owners and wouldn't want to make a fuss.

We did wonder why she would think that, rather than the obvious response, which was for us to phone our friends and tell them that they were being ripped off.

We never did get entry to the house - she offered to let us have her letting bedroom at her own place - at the going rate - so she was effectively trying to earn money from both our friend's house and her own . She was pretty brazen about it.

[hermioneweasley]

I would have kicked them out, felt indignant....and then worried about them (as you have done!)

But I still think you were right to kick them out. Cheeky feckers - trying to make it your problem!

[Pandemoniaa]

Craic.

[Tailtwister]

YANBU! I would have done the same thing.

[TheCraicDealer]

Really? Steal a child? Would people seriously book a week's holiday, drive 15 hours to it, arrive early and then decide, on the spur of the moment, to steal a child just because they'd been allowed to sleep on the sofa?

That made me ROFL, Pandemoniaa. You can see the thread now- "Forced to sleep on sofa after long drive- WIBU to steal their child in recompense?"

[expatinscotland]

YANBU! Brass load of cheek they've got! I'd have kicked them out, too. Sure, let some random stranger sleep there. My arse!

[LadyBeagleEyes]

Cheeky buggers.
And I have spent an inordinate amount of time cleaning holiday cottages here in the Highlands, people leave Saturday morning by 11.00, and we clean till two.
I have had people buggering around after checkout time and that's just cheeky too.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Yep they're still there. Hadn't thought about telling the owner but maybe I should.

[FantasticMax]

Ooh how rude! Well done for kicking them out, it was absolutely the right thing to do and will hopefully make them think twice about doing it again.

Definitely tell the owner. Are they still staying there?

[Pandemoniaa]

They could steal your money or a child etc.

Really? Steal a child? Would people seriously book a week's holiday, drive 15 hours to it, arrive early and then decide, on the spur of the moment, to steal a child just because they'd been allowed to sleep on the sofa? I think not!

But YWNBU in saying no to them OP. Sure, I'd have felt a tad guilty about the dark and the snow but actually, the couple brought this entirely upon themselves and actually, having to share the apartment with complete strangers on the very night you are trying to get sorted to leave before a long journey home would be a bloody nightmare.

Not for the first time I realise that people really can be very strange indeed.