'Very Attentive' Holiday Cottage host - AIBU?

[UntetheredTrampoline]

I have booked a long awaited get together with old friends to celebrate a few big 50 birthdays. Found a lovely place and booked up months ago, but just looking at the details and it says that owner and appointed staff may need to visit for routine garden maintenance.

Almost all the very positive reviews mention how lovely and attentive the host is and that he visits daily to make sure all is well?

Clearly past guests think this is great, but I am a bit alarmed at the thought of daily visits by the owner when it's a group of females who are for peace and quiet and a lot of time in the hot tub?

So AIBU? Do most people appreciate this level of involvement? do we have any right to privacy when we've paid a few grand to stay for the weekend?

I would not be happy with this. If he turns up, tell him you will contact him if you need anything. I was really pissed off with the owner of an Airbnb being on the drive outside for ages and letting his dog harass mine-it was firmly told to go away. I don’t expect to see the owner bar an initial welcome/key handover.

We turned up to our 2.5k family fortnight... Could see the host in her kitchen from our kitchen window.. Her fucking bastard ddog barked all night 11 out of 14 nights.
She turned up every morning with eggs and cakes....
Didn't make me feel may better. Left more knackered than when I arrived..

Oooft. Red flags? I'm not sure of the rules?

It's not unusual with hot tubs that they need to check the water daily and adjust chemicals accordingly. It might be part of the letting terms/hot tub guidelines.

YANBU unless I'm in a B and B (which I'd never book because I don't want to feel obliged to talk to strangers or risk coming across as rude/surly) I don't want to, or expect to see the owner of the property I've rented. If I'd seen those reviews before booking, I'd have chosen a different place to stay.
Could you maybe email and say you've read the reviews mentioning daily visits and ask that they not do this?

Then you'd expect that they will let you know when they'll be round.

We rented a cottage for 2 with a hot tub and the owner kept on encouraging us to use the tub - we came back to find it switched on. Maybe it has to be kept gurgling away but we assumed he was creepy/a peeping Tom, and didn't want to use it anyway.

I would email and say you’ve noticed the reviews and politely request some privacy.

It is very odd to visit every day.

If you offer a hot tub the chemical levels need to be checked twice a day. If the owner doesn't do this, and record the results, then their insurance would be invalid.

The tests take 30 seconds ( they should be 2 hours apart) and we try to do ours when people have gone out. Sometimes we have no choice but to do them.if people are in. It's a pain but it's heath and safety.

Fair enough if the host needs to quickly check the hot tub, but I’d be getting bad vibes if the reviews suggest that he pops round a lot and wants to chat. I prefer to be left alone in Airbnb’s. We had one review from hosts saying that they hardly saw during our stay ( it was a flat above theirs) as if they’d somehow expected to see us after the initial check-in. We were on holiday and going out sight-seeing, we weren’t there to socialize with them. 😂

In my experience with hot tubs in holiday let's - though tbf it's been a weekend rather than a full
Week, we've been left testing strips and basic instructions.

Not unusual given there is a hot tub the water needs to be treated for safety etc. The visits shouldn’t be obtrusive.

I try to avoid booking Airbnb’s that have the owners living onsite tbh, as I think this can be a little obtrusive on family time. I just want to get on my hols with my nearest & dearest.

This is sensible, this place looked pretty remote - no other properties around on Google Earth.

I don't mind testing etc, it's just how enthused the more recent reviews are about what a great guy he is, and 'visited daily'

When I meet him at collection I'll make it clear we're quite happy staying in and catching up, not needing local recommendations etc. and will let him know should we need anything.

When I see a review saying something like “the lovely owner lives next door” I say noooo. We stayed in a place last year where they had to check the hot tub daily but they let us know it would be around 8am every day. I stayed out of sight until after that and then we could just get on with the day.

We just like the privacy too. Not there to make new buddies or small talk, not when you’re looking forward to a big relax.

We have two experiences of bothersome holiday let owners; one was waiting patiently on the drive for us to arrive, and proceeded to give us a tour of the very standard three-bedroomed house, including opening the door of the fridge as if we had only lived in caves before! He then phoned us daily to ask if we required help with anything.
The second let forgot to mention the holiday cottage was built in their garden, and watched us almost forensically for the entire week.
I pay more attention to reviews these days.