To be unhappy with noisy abnb

[Anna713]

I am currently staying in a very nice villa in Portugal with two other couples. The villa is comfortable. It is near a railway station so I expected some noise from trains etc. However there his extensive work on the railway line literally outside our window which goes on all through the night. The digger and machinery noise is incredible and most of us have not slept well at all. The owner was very apologetic when we arrived and provided earplugs. She says she did not know the work would be taking place. (Obviously she knew enough on advance to buy the earplugs!) The owner said she had urgent business in Lisbon and disappeared there for a few days.

To make matters worse we had agreed a late checkout as we have a late flight. We have been told this morning that the owner now has another booking and we have to leave at 11am.

The others in my party are disappointed but not too bothered but I am fuming. I did not book this holiday myself and I dont want to upset my friend who did book it. My husband says to leave it and there's nothing we can do anyway but am I being unreasonable to be fuming? I am doubting my own judgement.

Just because it’s a civilised country, doesn’t mean their laws are the same. Like I said, I’ve lived in a variety of European, civilised countries and only the UK and Germany care enough to let residents know about these kind of things. How was the owner to know about the works, even if they’re planned months in advance? Doesn’t mean they’re made public.

If its on Google its not top secret is it.
Where are you OP?
Could it be the Lisbon to Madrid project? Its probably worth you having a look at press to see if it's published, aswell as recording noise like a pp suggests. Hopefully Airbnb will be helpful. They do tend to be.

We are staying just outside Porto, so it could be the Lisbon Madrid project. The owner has just been round with a nice cake for us so I am feeling a bit mean now. Having said that I dont know when we can eat it. We are just on our way out for dinner and leaving at 11am tomorrow. Perhaps she does feel a bit guilty

Could be this upgrade
int.anteagroup.com/projects/leixoes-line-road-rail-terminal-grande-porto-portugal#87198

I've been to Portugal many times bit not Porto. Hooe you enjoy your last evening.

@Anna713, I hate noise and am miserable when I don't sleep, so I really do empathise.

Where in Portugal are you?

I live in Portugal, and can tell you with certainty the owners won't have had any notice. Case on point- we got a notice about a month ago telling us they were going to be hunting for wild boar in the each night that week. Great. Except they had already done the hunting about two week's before that. Noisy, and frightening! Had we let our place out, we would have been equally helpless and just had to do the same- earplugs and apologise.

The roads are the same. All of a sudden-
Closed! No notice at all. Once I couldn't get out of our road because the main road it backs onto was closed for a huge bike race. No notice. Just sudden police escorts shouting at cars to get off the road, as if they should have magically intuited a bike race was coming.

This Is Portugal as I say.

Try to annoy it and don't let your displeasure ruin it for the group. No doubt the person who booked it will already feel bad, and you're really placing them between a rock and a hard place.

@CottonSock ha ha ha ha ha.

Well, they might be planned years in advance. (Doubt it). That will in no way translate to any communication to the local residents.

@CottonSock, again, even if it is the Lisbon to Madrid project, the government publishing plans on a broad scale will not translate to specific plans (eg we will do X section on X days) that local residents will be made aware of.

Yes, it is Portugal and not Timbuktu, but living here I can tel you first hand that communication is not a priority for the government. Equally, neither is disruption for residents. People are just expected to get on with it.

The number of times our water has been turned off with no warning...!

@Anna713 - you also seem a bit hard to please. The owner did the only thing she could do and apologise and bought ear plugs. She has agreed for you to store your luggage at no charge in the hallway. You say you're going to stomp in and use the toilet whether they like it or not, when you can easily use the toilet in any cafe or restaurant or supermarket or bar or station here and no one will mind. She brought you cake which you complain you won't have time to eat. Like, it's cake. Just eat it! I honestly do get how awful noise and sleeplessness can be, but you have to be fair, and you sound really negative and like you dig your heels in for the sake of it. Get on with your holiday! It's a gorgeous country with amazing food, drink, people, culture, and scenery- stop whining!

I was inconvenienced traveling out of Paris to CDG airport by rail in October last. (Weekend work upgrades).

Turns out there was plenty of notice about it but I didn't see it because I simply hadn't looked and assumed all would be well. The French had everything perfectly organised (buses waiting from the Stade de France stop) so...

basically shit happens

I left a very slightly negative review about a property in a tiny quiet village in France. The house was nice enough but the neighbours were incredibly noisy until about 3 am for about 4 or 5 nights. I had the feeling they were doing it on purpose as either they didn't like being next to a holiday house or because we are English. The other reviews were in French and very positive. Anyway I wish I hadn't as the owner just sent me a lots of messages about how filthy we left it (we didn't) and then left me a negative review. I told her she was just making accusations because of my very kind but not completely positive review and she didn't even bother denying it.