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.

[CockyFox]

I turned up a day early for a caravan holiday once to be fair I was 17 and we were perfectly prepared to pay for an extra night or find a b and b it was just the train fare was significantly cheaper on the friday

[woozlebear]

Hahahaha!!

Totally deranged. YABU at all! Can imagine feeling really uncomfortable in your shoes, though, even though totally their fault!

[cleofatra]

Do NOT feel bad. You don't know the crazy couple. In fact, you don't even know for sure that they had rented the property. They could be anyone.

[livinginwonderland]

cheeky buggers!

[Lottashakingoinon]

They couldn't have slept in the car, it was snowing like mad and really cold. They'd have had to have found somewhere to sleep

See now you're making me feel a bit guilty and I'm a callous bitch. But the point still stands that it was their fault, and totally within their control, and they were trying to get something for nothing.

This has the makings of a classic

[theoriginalandbestrookie]

I'd let the owners know. That way you can get confirmation that they are still alive and also tell them what cheeky sods the people are so they can make sure that they get a thorough inspection done of the property at check out time.

[weegiemum]

Nuts! I own a small holiday cottage and a larger house in Scotland.

All our advertising says May-Sept strictly sat-sat rentals only, but every year you get the ones who turn up on Friday night or before entry on sat (we do a locally pretty generous 2pm as our cleaner prefers mornings from 11 -2. You still get people pitching up at 10am wanting to "just drop their bags" etc. And the ones who want to leave on Thursday but not pay for the whole week.

I was delighted when I booked us a house in Italy for a week in he summer - was happy to pay from Sat but notified them we couldn't arrive till Sinday (only twice weekly flights from here). They knocked off a days rent - we will leave a couple of bottles of good wine as a thankyou!

[landofsoapandglory]

That would have caused a row between DH and I. He would have been saying yes and offering a cup of tea, I would have been saying fuck off no and showing them the door.

YANBU, some people have the cheek of the devil!

[jojane]

Why would you let them sleep there when they could be anyone? They could steal your money or a child etc.

[weegiemum]

But have to tell you of the time some wild campers were washed out near our house. The only lint on was in the holiday cottage (we were still living in the now-rented house at the time) so the campers knocked on the door. Wet campers slept on the floor in the holiday cottage and both couples cooked breakfast together next morning, then we let he campers use our drying room/ tumble dryer and gave them coffee/books/small children to torment them!

On departure, cottage tourists said it was the highlight of their week!!

[VivaLeBeaver]

I wouldn't have slept well if I'd let them stay and with an 18hr drive the next day it wouldn't have been fun.

[BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack]

Cheeky fuckers!!

Ok, this is an AIBU that no one is gonna say YABU surely!!!!!!!!!

[PurpleStorm]

So there you are. Letting them stay would have made a difference.

I have no sympathy at all for them. They could easily have avoided the whole scenario of having to find somewhere to stay overnight at the last minute.

[Snowsquonk]

We've stayed a couple of times at a lovely cottage in Cornwall, where the very nice owners live in their house close by. Lovely place - few farm animals, donkeys and the owners have several friendly dogs that come and see us - so we chatted often with the woman.

On our last day of a 2 week stay, she told us the people who had the cottage the week after us had been badgering her all week on the phone about coming earlier - despite her telling them that we had booked and paid for a fortnight - she said they even offered to pay her to persuade us to go early so they could come but she refused! Apparently it was because the weather was so fantastic (this was Easter 2 years ago when it was fab weather). Entitled or what?!

[starfishmummy]

I am speechless at how cheeky some people can be. I would make sure to tell the owners.

[SnotMeReally]

How many people are actually geting away with theft like this,I wonder! It would never have occurred to me that people would do this - then try to persuade a stranger to let them stay O/N in the house they have paid for!

I had assumed this would be a thread about someone accidentally turning up on the wrong start day.

i feel uneasy if we are a half hour late leaving FGS, and have only once sneaked in a half hour early as the DC were in need of the loo!

[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.

[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?

[VivaLeBeaver]

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

[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.

[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!

[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?"

[Tailtwister]

YANBU! I would have done the same thing.

[Pandemoniaa]

Craic.

[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!