To be a bit 🫤

[Swansandcustard]

On holiday in a villa with a pool. Have previously done so and love the freedom and privacy.

We built our own holiday, and the villa is an AirBnB, again which we’ve done previously.

This year it’s been a bit off-putting following our arrival and interactions with the owner.

We had a nightmare at the airport UK side with the parking airport shuttle not running as advertised (barely at all) and only just getting on the flight, so when we landed we were a bit frazzled. Got thru customs, bag claim and picked up car and headed to grab some food as we hadn’t had time at the airport before flying.

we’d just started eating when the villa owner called and asked when we would be there. I said probably between 3-4. He said very curtly, ‘I need to know EXACTLY when you’ll be here, to the minute. Call me when you’re leaving’. I thought it was a bit rude, but…and did as he asked.

When we arrived he was at the villa. And proceeded to spend 30 minutes telling us what we couldn’t do.

Don’t put lots in the fridge - just one drink at a time
Don’t turn the aircon too low, it will be too cold for you and may make you ill.
Don’t wear sun cream in the pool - shower it all off, have your swim, get out and reapply.

There were lots of other rules too, but these were the ones that stuck out. Overall it felt very unwelcoming, quite rude and frankly unrealistic. If I don’t wear sun cream, I don’t go in the pool full stop. I am very ginger fair and would burn immediately.

We’ve holidayed all over the med and never heard the like - people don’t let dc play in water without sunscreen, surely?

Aibu or is he?

Ignore him.

he can’t be that controlling if he wants to rent his property out - maybe this just isn’t the right business for him but that’s not your problem. Enjoy your holiday.

Sounds like the owner is a little OTT with his way of ‘welcoming’ guests. I don’t know why he said not to wear sunscreen in the pool - did he explain? I’m sure he won’t know if you do, like you say most of us would to protect ourselves. Overall though, you’re on holiday so relax and enjoy. Don’t dwell on the things that have happened that are just minuscule annoyances

Not sure what I think of this. Air BnB is massively undercutting the hospitality industry, although the ‘hospitality’ element is often totally missing. It’s literally people looking to make money out of people staying in their homes, and so there are more ‘rules’ than there would be a hotel or actual holiday property run as a full time business with service in mind.
Maybe this is a case of you get what you pay for?

After a few bad experiences with Airbnb I avoid it now. Would rather stay in a hotel or cottage via an agency.

This is why I do not stay in AirbnB. Just enjoy your week and book a hotel next time.

He sounds a bit of a twat. I'd just ignore him and enjoy your holiday as you see fit.

Sunscreen can react with pool water chemicals and go cloudy and irritate the skin, I suspect that might be his reasoning. I think there are some kinds that don’t do this but not sure which ones https://platinumpools.com/sunscreen-impact-on-pool-water/ Having said that I would still use it, just give it time to dry before going in the pool maybe?

I’ve encountered way too many people like that via Airbnb so I also avoid.

Ignore him, enjoy your holiday and stay in a hotel next time.

I’ve checked the guy out and he has a LOT of rentals where we are. Never encountered this before, and never seen a cloudy pool due to wearing sun protection.

We’re going to do as we usually do, and pretend he doesn’t exist.

That's the risk you take with an air bnb

I know of a swim spa in a UK property. The filters regularly get clogged with residue from what people have on their skin- fake tan, sun cream, moisturisers. I imagine he's not willing to put in the time & money to clean it/ change filters regularly.

I feel like I’ve stayed in this AirBnb as I’ve had an almost identical experience 😅 is the owner a Scottish man?!

We had a villa owner ask us not to wear sunscreen in the pool once, reasoning was it leaves a yellow tide mark on the pool liner which can't be cleaned off. But my skin is more important to me than his pool liner so I still wore it!

He's a bit of a twat, because realistically how is he ever going to know if you disobey any of his rules? And it makes more sense to have the fridge reasonably full, as a lot of cold drinks will help to keep it cold, rather than constantly taking one cold drink out and replacing it with a warm one.

Sunscreen fucks with the pool jets and filter system. It's a nightmare for the pool cleaners to deal with.

Washing off sunscreen isn't actually an unreasonable request.

Smile, nog, ignore, leave it in the review. Happy hols!

Nod!!

Is it not just normal practice and hygiene to rinse off before you enter a pool? If he means rinse off sweat and oily sunscreen before getting in that's okay. If he means literally wash all the sun screen off so there's none on your body he is being VU.
The fridge one is a weird one, it works better filled I don't understand that at all. What size is the fridge?
Enjoy your holiday, check out the reviews for his other properties.

@WetBandits no, he’s not Scottish. Very brash London type accent.

if your skin is really delicate it’s probably worth covering it, even in the pool if you’re swimming in the sun. My sister swims in a light t shirt

Too many experiences like this with AirBnB recently. The worst was in Norway of all places. The main photo was Instagram-tastic; a big picture window overlooking a fjord with tasteful scandi furniture. Not many other pics. Turned out the beautiful window was on a cramped upstairs landing; not somewhere you’d really want to sit. The rest of the house was furnished as sparsely and cheaply as possible and the fjord wasn’t viable from the other windows. One bedroom just had a fold out foam sofa bed thing that was barely fit for purpose, no drawers or wardrobe and no curtains/blinds.

We received an email three days before we arrived informing us of a long list of rules and mentioning that we had to provide our own linen (this was not on the listing). As we were already on holiday by that point, in another location, we replied that we couldn’t bring any, and could we rent some? The grumpy reply quoted us an outrageous figure to borrow the linen that was in a cupboard, and told us we had to have it washed and dried before leaving. We weren’t allowed to use the towels at all ‘for hygiene reasons’.

It was all completely ridiculous, unwelcoming and profiteering. The icing on the cake was the instruction to empty the bins on leaving and take our rubbish to the big bins outside a campsite a mile away. When we tried to do this, the campsite owner came running out and told us off. We showed her the AirBnB instruction and she was furious. We ended up having to take our rubbish with us to the next town, miles away, before we could find a municipal bin. That was pleasant.

We have stayed in hotels since that experience.

Sounds like a total tosspot I’d be ignoring him and enjoying your holiday then leave a very honest and frank review! What a bummer op but don’t let him ruin your holiday! X

Wow @VenusClapTrap thats horrific! This had photos that made it look much bigger. Bedrooms have a bed and wardrobes, no dressing table and the teeniest little bedside table with a lamp you have to reach down the back of the headboard to the ground!

Just sheer greed, spoils the who concept. We hate hotels due to noise, sunbed ridiculousness etc. I do enjoy writing reviews, especially looking forward to doing this one!

The pool we had in a villa we stayed in reacted really badly to sunscreen, it left a weird tide mark round the pool that the pool maintenance guy had to clean every few days. Never had it in previous pools (we stay in villas most years) so concluded it was down to the poor filtration system they were using. We just showered off before going in, I’d always reapply sun screen after being in a pool anyway, but the owner sounds rude.

I have a pool and some sunscreens really affect it. It majsx the water greasy and the filters clog. I get it tbh. We don't wear it in ours. I kinda get the time thing too as I let in my friends air b n b guests when she is unavailable. If they say they'll be there at 3 and don't turn up until 5/6 I am hanging around, to the minute is unrealistic but I do get it.
The fridge thing na fuck him and ignore. But do be aware that it might be because there is a crack in the shelf so you don't want to lose your deposit!