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AIBU?

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Original poster

To feel disappointed we paid so much for this accommodation

193 replies

Holidays27 · 13/04/2022 12:13

We booked a month in advance and paid 220 euros a night. Photos and reviews were good; but we got a studio with 2 beds in the living room, one enclosed in a box/partition; street view and construction side next door. Not breakfast, not additional facilities, one bathroom. We are 4 people

OP posts:
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12
shinynewapple22 · 13/04/2022 15:33

I wouldn't book an apartment through Booking.com - they are really unclear when they talk about 'rooms' and 'units'.

£220 per night a huge amount of money for what is essentially a studio flat .

We normally use VRBO for holiday accommodation- it's a lot clearer to see what you are getting - you can message directly with the owner or managing agents if you have any queries or something isn't clear .

I know booking.com can be good for free cancellations but you can get properties on VRBO with one or two weeks' free cancellation too.

BungleandGeorge · 13/04/2022 15:33

A one bedroom apartment should have a proper bedroom, so 2 separate rooms. Some of the Pictures do look like a separate bedroom, that weird raised partition section is not a bedroom, id complain

LampLighter414 · 13/04/2022 15:38

Your own fault here sorry OP. Enjoy your holiday

MurmuratingStarling · 13/04/2022 15:41

That is horrendously expensive! Shock

Qwill · 13/04/2022 15:42

On the property website it very clearly shows a bed in the sitting room and a bed in a boxed off room. It is very very clear. There are lots of photos showing this exact set up. I don’t think it’s misleading. It even says it in the blurb.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 13/04/2022 15:47

This reply has been deleted

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maddy68 · 13/04/2022 15:54

The description does say some apartments have sea views and some have city views.

chesirecat99 · 13/04/2022 16:20

I don't think it's misleading. The information is all there but there is a lot of information to read through and photos of multiple apartments so it is easy to see how you were mistaken.

It says that some rooms have sea views and some have street views. When you select the room to book, it specifies whether the room you have chosen has a sea view.

There are photos of the "box rooms" so you could see what you are getting. I can see why you don't think it is a proper bedroom but it is still a room with four walls, a ceiling and doors. A studio would be completely open plan. If you bought a loft appartment with a similar style bedroom in the UK, it would be described as a one bedroom flat, not a studio.

The "fine print" page specifies that there is construction next door currently.

You could have opted for breakfast.

Given that you thought there was a swimming pool, maybe you got it mixed up with another property?

I get that you are disappointed but don't let this spoil your holiday in an amazing city. The room really isn't that terrible. It's just somewhere to sleep, after all. Get out and have a large glass of port and some petiscos (tapas) in a beachside bar! You won't care about the room after a couple of glasses Grin

fruitbrewhaha · 13/04/2022 16:20

I think it's misleading. When I look at the oe bed apartment room choice it shows a bed in a pull out for under a dining area, and a sepate bedroom that appears to be in the eaves. It also states a sea view.

I would expect a bedroom plus a room that had a kitchen, dining and extra bed area.

What you have is a studio, not a one bedroom apartment.

Echobelly · 13/04/2022 16:25

I think it is a bit unhelpful of accommodation to put a block of photos and not label them all, as it can mislead people as to what is in each one. I'm about to book a place for a May holiday that has several apartments, but (some at least) of the photos are labelled so you can tell which is which, but you do have to check carefully if you have specific needs.

jamdonut · 13/04/2022 16:32

The fancy photo angles would have made me suspicious, but I think on the whole the pictures give a reasonable explanation.
And even in this country “sea views” quite often means you can ‘just’ about see the sea!!! The fact that only one of those pictures you can see a tiny bit of sea through the windows should have alerted you!
If it was a true sea front view, they would have shown it. The interlaced beach photos usually mean “ not far from a beach”.

I know it’s disappointing, but has it truly stopped you from getting on with the holiday?

chesirecat99 · 13/04/2022 16:42

@fruitbrewhaha

I think it's misleading. When I look at the oe bed apartment room choice it shows a bed in a pull out for under a dining area, and a sepate bedroom that appears to be in the eaves. It also states a sea view.

I would expect a bedroom plus a room that had a kitchen, dining and extra bed area.

What you have is a studio, not a one bedroom apartment.

Yes, if you click on the one bedroom apartment with seaview. If you select different room types, you get different photos.
ItsOnlyWordsInnit · 13/04/2022 17:40

@EileenGC

Well, where I live (Germany), a studio is called a 1-bedroom apartment. Bedroom doesn't mean 'separate room'. So here when you look for a house with 3 bedrooms, you look for 4-bed houses.

I don't know if this is the case in Portugal as well, but not everywhere in the world counts a bedroom as a separate room, and/or always includes a living room in apartment-type accommodation.

That said, if there were things in the description that did not correspond with what you were offered (eg ocean vs street view), complain. Both in the ratings after you get home, and to Booking.

Keep in mind for next time, that the photos right at the top of a Booking ad are not of what you will get. Those are photos from the building in general, and can - and often do - include photos from many different rooms or apartments, not all of which you will be booking. Check the specific photos under the exact room type you're booking.

You've not got that entirely right. In Germany a studio is an Einzimmerwohnung, which literally means 1 room apartment. It's not an Einschlafzimmerwohnung. A Zimmer refers to any separate heatable space that's not a bathroom or kitchen. So you can choose whether to designate a Zimmer as a bedroom or living room or study, if the layout allows. The difference is that in the UK a 1 bedroom apartment would assume there's also a living room, whereas that would already make it a Zweizimmerwohnung in German. So the point here is a totally different one - whether the adapted shipping container that's being labelled a bedroom on Booking technically qualifies as a separate 'room' of any kind (since it apparently has pocket doors), or whether it's actually just a box in a studio. The provider is clearly claiming the former, while the OP thinks it's the latter. I'd be massively pissed off about the sea view issue.
Zotter · 13/04/2022 17:40

There seems to be two separate apartments available, one is listed with a sea view and one with a city view. It seems - I may be wrong - the city view apartment has the bed room that is made out of an industrial container (literally a box) and the sea view has a separate bedroom.

To feel disappointed we paid so much for this accommodation
To feel disappointed we paid so much for this accommodation
shiningstar2 · 13/04/2022 17:52

If it says sea view you should have a sea view. The other issue, size of apartment seems clear. Really for2 adults?

EileenGC · 13/04/2022 18:59

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Lots of the images show beds "in a box" in the main room or pulled out from the wall into the main room.
You may want to have those photos deleted, @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz because there are identifying email addresses on them. Can Mumsnet HQ help here?
BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 13/04/2022 19:18

Crap!! Well spotted. I've asked MN

Lalliella · 13/04/2022 20:22

@Holidays27

Thanks everyone. We are not going to let it spoil our holidays. We live and learn. We booked in a rush as we were very busy. Should have researched and read property all the reviews. Photos can be very misleading; we saw a photo of a bedroom and since it says one bedroom apartment we expected a proper bedroom
You have to be very careful with booking.com as the photos are a merged collection of all the apartments they offer at that property, they don’t show everything you’ll be getting. We had the opposite in Ljubljana - we booked an apartment for 5 and were given 2 apartments connected together, I actually phoned the owner and told them we’d booked one apartment not two Blush 🤦‍♀️ You do have to be careful though as sometimes it isn’t clear.
Lalliella · 13/04/2022 20:25

If people are clicking on OP’s link it’s only showing one apartment as that’s all that’s available for the dates input. However there are two types if you put other dates in - sea view and city view. Booking.com can be a bit confusing if there’s more than one alternative - they lump all the photos together.

Caveat emptor!

Original poster
Holidays27 · 13/04/2022 22:33

Thanks everyone.

There are 5 apartments and all the photos are together; that’s why is so confusing. They definitely want to mislead people. Also they charged us more as we booked for 4 people.

Anyway; we enjoyed our first day in Porto and trying to make the most of the 1100 euros we paid. They cleaned the studio and offered us one day complementary breakfast which wasn’t enough for 4 people and it was just a basket delivered in our room.

They are trying to charge like aparthotel but there are no other facilities or services apart from the daily cleaning.

Still feel robbed and my review will go in Bookings.com. Looking for the bedroom,

It seems we are paying for some sort of art/stylish which we don’t see or appreciate

OP posts:
EileenGC · 13/04/2022 23:23

There are 5 apartments and all the photos are together; that’s why is so confusing. They definitely want to mislead people. Also they charged us more as we booked for 4 people.

I’m sorry but both those things are completely normal. 90% of the hotels or apartments I book function like that. It’s not misleading, it’s the norm.

I do sympathise with all the other issues and I hope you can still enjoy your holiday regardless. Portugal is a beautiful place!

lameasahorse · 13/04/2022 23:26

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FreeefireRegina · 14/04/2022 10:55

YABU in my opinion, the images and description seem clear enough and description says suitable for 2 people. Sorry you were disappointed but it seems you misunderstood but not misled. Hope the rest of the holidays is enjoyable, Porto is a lovely location.

rookiemere · 14/04/2022 10:57

It's weird it gets such high Booking.com scores - average 9.5/10 when pricing seems pretty high for what you get.

Kennykenkencat · 14/04/2022 11:27

@EileenGC

There are 5 apartments and all the photos are together; that’s why is so confusing. They definitely want to mislead people. Also they charged us more as we booked for 4 people.

I’m sorry but both those things are completely normal. 90% of the hotels or apartments I book function like that. It’s not misleading, it’s the norm.

I do sympathise with all the other issues and I hope you can still enjoy your holiday regardless. Portugal is a beautiful place!

I have never been charged more when booking for 2 people or 10 people.

If an apartment sleeps 10 then it is a set price regardless that you have 2,4, 6 or 9 or 10 people in it.

Equally hotels charge by the room.

Only ever heard of hotels charging per person on something like the hotel Inspector or if it the year was 1972

If a room sleeps 2 or 4 or 6 then you will be charged a set rate no more and no less