AIBU to leave a stinking review

[101confusedbutangryholidaymakers]

Staying at lovely cottage in Scotland, text the owner last week as instructed to by Sykes, to get attached response... fine Sundays are sacred to some people. Rang 2 days later to be told keys will be in back door... why that warranted a phone call who knows. Arrived yesterday without further contact. This afternoon, a Sunday, lady showed up out of the blue whilst we were in the hot tub, came right round the back of the property. It was bloody awkward, me DH and my 2 young kids in swimming cossies in the garden faced with this random lady, this cottage is in the middle of nowhere we were definitely not expecting this randomer to intrude. She told us we'd put the top off the hot tub wrong, it was lent against the side, who knows where it's supposed to go, all she described was how to put it back on. She asked if everything was okay, I told her the Internet didn't work she told me "well it does", definitely doesn't. She left telling me "no kids unsupervised in the hot tub" well duh and they weren't. She also chastised us for not showering beforehand... which we had but obviously we looked dirty or something cos she looked sceptical. It just ruined everything frankly and now feel weird about the rest of the week if she's just going to show up whenever she feels like it. I just don't know whether to text her again to reiterate about the Internet and politely request some notice before she intrudes or just leave a stinking review.... bit tempted by the latter but I realise that's the childish way out... this place wasn't exactly cheap though

I'd say "mystery faux pas" OP - that says you have no idea what it was and the fact that it was unintentional is implicit.

I wonder if she's breaking her public liability insurance rules by failing to provide instructions for the hot tub, particularly if safety issues have arisen by her use of potentially dangerous chemicals.

Remind her of this if she pursues the £80.

omg what was her problem?!

I'd also put in that your children absolutely were not messing around or using it like a swimming pool and always had you in supervising. Otherwise people will automatically think aw her kids must of been messing around in it, in and out etc. I'd also mention her shower comment.

Very rude to assume you hadn't showered! Holiday cottage owners can be very precious about their hot tubs. Went to one where it was set to a very tepid (unusable) temperature with big signs saying not to turn it up.

Brilliant! Definitely adding mystery in there, thanks

You're right, you know what the showering thing had kind of slipped my mind, which is insane considering just that on its own would have been rude enough 😅

That's a good thing to keep in mind thanks. I think that was her preemptively making sure we didn't ask for a refund over the broken Internet!? Maybe. My husband keeps telling me to stop trying to rationalise her behaviour, when she's obviously not a rational person...

Can I just ask something? If your children did use it as a swimming pool how does that affect the chemical balance in the pool? Does swimming half a metre (if that) create chemicals I wasn't aware of as opposed to sitting still?

I feel your pain - when you do get a holiday with an 'intrusive owner' it really ruins it for you. Booked a lot of 'cottages' over the years and I won't book anything where the owner is next door or its annexe to their property. We had a real nightmare when I left my Goldie for half a day in the cottage - it was 35+ and it was too hot to take him out. Really kicked off over it. The owner was adjacent to the cottage. I now look very carefully - it suits me if they have lock box for the key and I don't meet them.

😂
Good point, what did she actually mean by that!?

Personally OP I’d cut that review right down and make it purely factual. I’m absolutely not saying this has been the case here and I’m sorry you’ve had such a crappy experience but often when I read a review that feels so personal/emotional I mentally disregard it.
I’d just bullet point the keys, WiFi, hot tub issues. Children definitely allowed in that hot tub from the signage and the swimming pool
comment is bizarre - my ILs have a hot tub and my kids ‘swim’ across it all the time without any issues whatsoever - unless she thinks they were jumping in and out and getting it dirty?!

I was about to come on and mention this.

We used Sykes once for a family holiday in Wales and were told we had to bring our own towels and bedlinen. Guess what? We forgot and had to spend the 1st night without bed linen and find a shop ( in North Wales on a Sunday) to buy all new bedlinen for 5 of us.
Fair enough, we were warned, but it went under our radar somewhat as generally one isn't expected to provide all towels and bedlinen for a holiday cottage rental.
It wasn't cheap, either.

I would contact them, on the pretext of the WiFi, ( even though they have said they're unavailable) just for the record and mention the unsolicited visit, politely.
If you don't hear back, I think it wouldn't be unreasonable to mention this in your review, to warn others.