I want to relax, owner controlling central heating remotely

[PaddingtonBearPumpkinstare]

I am currently on a long weekend with DH and two DC. Whilst the cottage is lovely and we can’t fault it, the heating is controlled remotely via an app by the owner. It is set to 22 degrees and to come on at 6.30am to 10am and then 4pm to 10pm. If we want to alter the temperature or turn it on or off we have to text the owner and ask her to do it. Is this the norm?! I’ve never heard of this before.

We only arrived last night and have already had to text her twice. We arrived just as it was starting up at 4pm and as I was unpacking I was absolutely boiling and had to open all the windows upstairs. Our heating at home is never above 19, DH asked her to turn it down. She said she’d turn it down to 20 for the rest of our stay unless she heard otherwise.

During the night DS woke for a bottle at 3am and I was really cold and actually couldn’t get back to sleep for a while. Obviously we couldn’t text her at that time. If that had been at home I would have just put the heating on for an hour whilst he had his bottle. Then this morning at 6am, DS started whinging in his sleep and when I checked him his cheeks were really cold. So this morning DH has texted her again and asked her to put it on at 2am for an hour but she hasn’t yet responded.

I can only assume the reasoning for it is to stop people leaving the heating on all day when they go out. The weather is horrible today and I want to arrive back to a nice toasty cottage but that won’t happen if we arrive back before 4pm.

AIBU to want to relax on this short break and not be pissed off and feel like a child asking for the heating to be put on?

Have it on 24 hours and open windows as needed . This happened in a very pricey hotel my relatives were staying in . In ruined their stay . Line you they either boiled or were chilled .

I would review and mention the issues with the heating but not leave a bad review - as a PP said, they did give you control as soon as you asked for it. Yes it's a bit unusual but maybe they just got the Hive installed or something and didn't realise it would be a problem?

I have just been reading the visitors book and not one person has mentioned the heating thing. It makes me wonder if it's a new thing or if they rip the pages out.

I would guess that if you didn't have a young baby with you may not have felt it was a big enough issue to mention in the guest book either. Heating in the morning and then from 4-10 would likely be OK for older households.

I will also mention in both about ideal temperature for babies is between 16 and 20 degrees

I wouldn't mention that in the review, if you want to maybe you could point that out to the owner directly as an example of why retaining control of the heating won't work for some guests. I wouldn't expect them to have set their thermostat based on a baby staying, and you yourself have said your own home is warmer than 20 degrees.

I just think it's one of those things they've probably never had an issue with before and you've only picked up due to your little baby. Nothing wrong with telling them why it doesn't work, but I don't think they've done anything malicious or terribly wrong here.

Leave a very negative review, emphasising that they put your baby at risk by having the heating set to far too hot during the day and far too cold at night. That your requests for changes were overruled and that the owners clearly thought they knew better than you about what temperatures are comfortable which is arrogant and disrespectful.

The best option for the environment is to add as much insulation as you can and then have the heating set to keep the building at an even temperate (18/19C) 24-7 because it takes a lot more energy to allow a building to cool down to 13C overnight and then whack it up to 22C in the morning - and if you have been chilly at 13C overnight then 20C still feels a bit too cool whereas if you didn't lose much heat in the night you are happier with a cooler temperature in the day.

@Bibidy if I have said my own home is warmer than 20 degrees I didn't mean to. The very most my thermostat goes up to is 19 and that's only when it's freezing cold and we've been out and I feel cranking it right up makes it work faster

Normally it is set at 18

@PaddingtonBearPumpkinstare may not have been the same place I stayed, but everything else rings true. Down to the actual times the heating came on and off and also the wife / husband dynamic. I wouldn't be surprised if they owned other property in the county. I just happen to have had the pleasure of staying in the cottage attached to their farmhouse. They seemed very wealthy. Our cottage was near Pickering. And like you, there was a visitors book which had no mention of anyone complaining, which we laughed about and wondered if they had ripped pages out! Me and my partner (as mentioned before, stayed Easter week with my DD, it was fairly mild) But my god in an old cottage with single glazed sash windows it was bloody freezing at times and this was mid April! We said a few times how utterly weird and controlling it felt that we couldn't just pop the heating on.

@HoneyandSpice where the wife's initials CT?!

Were*

@PaddingtonBearPumpkinstare yep. That's her! I just knew it. Very weird set up. I feel they probably owned a lot of property - I'm guessing inherited on her side. We were in a lovely village but I got the distinct impression that the locals didn't like her (I know the area fairly well)
We had the same thing as you with the husband replying etc. Weird thing for us, being attached to their farmhouse - when we parked our car up at night, we could see how warm their house was through the windows (we were all in jumpers, they were in t shirts and vests)

Do mention it in an online review. I wish I’d known before we rented a cottage in Devon that it was insulated with foil and therefore had absolutely no mobile reception and barely any WiFi. Bit tricky when you’re trying to plan holiday activities. When we asked the owner why we couldn’t get any signal he told us that it was because it was rural. Um, no, sunshine, we live rurally at home and can get decent signal. He eventually admitted it was probably down to the insulation. I did mention it in the review in case anyone else was rather depending on being able to actually use their devices on holiday.