Villa holiday nightmare -AIBU to ask

[Panicmode1]

We had a VRBO booking for a gorgeous, palatial villa in rural splendour booked, but it got damaged in the wildfires. So two weeks ago, we had to find something else.

We are now in Javea which is really not our sort of holiday, but I was prepared to make the best of it.

However the litany of stuff that has gone wrong is so long and we've paid over £5k just for the house. What sort of discount would you be asking for if the following had happened in the first 2 days of your holiday?

The house was filthy on arrival, the bedding is stained and the towels are threadbare.
The whole house smells damp but the agent says it's been fully let since May!
The master bed collapsed when DH got into it on night 1 (he is 6ft 6, but very slim so it's not a weight issue!) and so we have had to sleep on the floor on the mattress
The washing machine doesn't work
Ditto the dishwasher
The house sleeps 11 but there isn't enough crockery or cutlery for more than 6 (only 4 wine glasses)
No parasol by the pool
All of the chairs are cheap, plastic and one broke when my (very slight) 12 y o sat on it - which revealed it had been glued back together at least once
The BBQ was filthy and we had to buy a new grill

We were under pressure to book something as our flights and car hire were booked separately, and this seemingly was the only house left 2 weeks before our dates of travel, within driving distance of Madrid with a pool.

I just want to cry. We have had 3 crap years of hurriedly rearranged hols for obvious reasons and I just wanted a nice break. (I know we are lucky to be on holiday...)

AIBU to ask for 50% off the price for every day we have been disrupted?

I think 50% discount is fair if planning to stay.
Personally, I’d be looking to go elsewhere as by staying you are sort of accepting the accommodation as suitable.

Who did you book the villa through? Have you talked to agents about it being substandard and they need to accommodate you elsewhere?
What about your travel insurance? Sometimes it covers when accommodation is shit and pays for you to stay in different accommodation…ie go to a resort.

This was through booking.com and it seems that we can't get a refund for the second week now we are here. I did look to see whether we could cancel our second week.

To be fair there is a local agent who is doing his best to fix the broken stuff, but I am so cross it was let out in this state...the grout in all of the bathrooms is black, I've found old face masks on the floor, so although he said "the cleaners could come back", I think it needs about a month of elbow grease to clean properly...!

Hadn't thought of insurance, thank you. The problem also is that we are a family of 6, so availability in the height of the season is a problem (and why we are here after the other place got fire damaged...)

Did you pay by cc, if so you could claim via that.

Yes, we did....thank you both. Am going to check our insurance now....

Oh that is shit.

I would 100% say yes to cleaners coming back - and send the agent a list of everything you want them to do while they are there. At the very least you can feel better knowing it has actually been cleaned while you are there.

Is the agent arranging for a new bed, washing machine, dishwasher and outside furniture? There must be loads of places on that Denia/Javea coastline to source all that stuff in a day or two. I think how quickly they fixed everything would impact on my decision to stay and how much refund to ask for. But at the moment 50% does not sound unreasonable.

Oh no, poor you. Booking.com is on my shit list for similar reasons/been burned by them. They are absolutely useless. They leave it entirely up to the property owner/local agent.

Also - I'm sure you are already planning to, but if not, definitely pay a visit or two to Valencia to cheer you up!

I would be furious. Don’t accept this at all! Get onto your insurers and see what they can offer. Do take photographic evidence of everything that is not as it should be.

for 5k I’d be expecting A LOT

also onto your credit card company - tell them you want to leave as it is not as described

oh and update us

We will definitely go to Valencia, yes. It looks lovely.

The agent has sorted a new bed, fixed the cooker (forgot that on the list!), bought a parasol (for about 2 Euros, so its already blown into the pool and broken 🙈) and a new washing machine arrives tomorrow, so some of that will help. He did agree that "it wasn't in the best state"....even though he's the rental agent.....!

Doesn't help that 2 of the 4 teens aren't feeling very well either, so it's not been the best start!

Things, as they say, can only get better 😁

DH is saying he thinks if the agent sorts everything out tomorrow, we should stay and make the best of it.

I'm attaching a picture of the grout in our bathroom....🤮 which is symptomatic of the whole house's level of cleanliness. I knew when we booked it the decor was a bit (!) dated, but we had zero other options (that we could find) two weeks ago.

No idea re the villa but I loved Javea when I went, and Moraira, Denia, Altea - didn't like Calpe though

That grout!! Yukk Central. I would be photographing every filthy corner and plastering it over the agency's website.
I would also inform ABTA. I would be demanding more than a 50% refund. Is the teenagers' ill health in any way related to the dirty surroundings?
Please salvage as much money and practical help as possible out of this disappointment of a holiday.

I think think you need to send pics to the agent and ask him to show the cleaners so they know exactly what you mean. It looks like they need to be in for half a day giving it a really thorough going over.

Ugh that does sound shit, OP, how disappointing.

I think what you paid for the villa is a bit of a red herring though. What is relevant is whether the reality matches the property description on the booking site.

Although YANBU for thinking that £5K should get you a bathroom that doesn't have mouldy grout, ultimately there is nothing stopping property owners letting out villas for whatever people are willing to pay. I don't think price alone is a very good indicator of quality in my experience of booking.com, Airbnb etc - especially when there is limited availability.

Totally off topic (sorry OP - it sounds SHIT, but agree with your OH, if you can get it cleaned and sorted I'd stay but still try and raise a claim) but @StrangeCondition we are going to Moraira this summer for the first time, and I don't know much about it, so this is good to hear! (We are big Nerja fans)

50% discount seems more than reasonable. Have you got a car?
If so, give Guadalest a try, beautiful place to go for the day, you can nip into the Algar Falls on the way, fab there too.

Moraira is lovely, as it Altea and Calpe. it's a lovely part of Spain, so hopefully a few trips out will sort of make up for your accommodation, which sounds grim.