To consider a tactful note?

[Pancakesbythedozen]

Hello holiday apartment owner..
We are having a lovely time but are wondering if we hit on Clog Dancing Competition Rehearsal Week?.
We are staying in the bottom half of a beautiful house on an island (UK).. The owners upstairs are clearly wearing hard soled boots on wooden floors... It's driving me nuts!
And their pooch resides on a window sill on Full Alert to anything that passes that has a pulse.. Meanwhile our ddogs are snoozing and behaving very admirably i must say.. I have no intention of leaving any sort of negative review.. The place is fantastic.. But would it be the 'kind' thing to do on tipping them off? We are the first guests of the season 2026....we travel here lots and don't want to be labelled fussy but this is an expensive week - and isn't being that relaxing!!

You are not having a lovely week, so don’t start with that and then follow with complaints.
if you want to be positive to start, say the place is lovely, but the noise from the floor upstairs is loud and disturbing?

Agree with @DaffodilTuesdayDon’t try to be amusing or clever. It’s neither. All that pointless waffle is just irritating. Just say what the problem using normal sentences and language and what you want them to do about it.

Stomping and a barky dog would drive me crazy. Please mention it in a review for the sake of future prospective guests - or non-guests, I won't book anywhere where there's even a hint that it might be noisy.

OP, I wouldn't take advice on tactful and kind feedback from someone who accused you of "pointless waffle".

It's perfectly fine to want to say it politely. I would too.

Just let them know it's quite noisy - there are definitely things they can try to do to mitigate it, so it's useful feedback.

Not sure I would mention their dog, unless it's caused you real problems?

Definitely mention it to them- we stayed in an air bnb apartment once and on the second day had a message from the owner that the downstairs occupants were finding us too noisy :(

We were barefoot but it’s true to say I was up once each night feeding our baby. They certainly felt entitled to mention it and I made (even more of) an effort to be silent after that!

Preferably normal sentences with a single full stop at the end of them.

This is the way to go

Whilst it may not be a dealbreaker for you, I agree you aren’t having a lovely week. I’d just be straight with the owners.if they live upstairs then you may get the opportunity to see them face to face before you depart, which would be easier. Just a “you might want to think about…” might suffice. Use the shit sandwich technique - good, bad, good.
You could almost see yourselves as the guinea pigs for the season and approach it from this perspective.

That’s not tactful… it’s passive aggressive

Is that what you propose sending?! "Is it Clog Dancing Week"??

Tactful wouldn't actually mention any form of dancing...
Woken up around 8 by something being dropped on the wood flooring. Nearly shot out of bed!
Dog was barking at 7 again...
Last night tonight...
Thank goodness..

In all honesty; what do you expect from your message?

Do you expect the owner to contact the upstairs neighbours?

Do you expect the upstairs neighbours to change their behavior in their space?

Do you expect the owner to not list the listing because it has noisy upstairs neighbours?

Do you expect the owner to inform future guests so they can make an informed decision and not visit?

Because none of that will happen; you'll get an "oh so sorry, I'll see what I can do" - whilst proceeding to do absolutely nothing. Think about it; would you contact the upstairs neighbour and tell them to be quieter (in their own space)?

In lodgings with neighbours above, below or to the side, the owner cannot control the actions of others adults in those spaces - no matter how much you want them too.

My advice; dont let it ruin your time; try to enjoy your time there. Your note wont achieve anything.

You only need one full stop at the end of a sentence! One. Uno. Eins.

Those are not full stops, they're ellipses ... make of them what you will.

The owner is the upstairs neighbour.

But are they...?
After every single sentence...
Renders them rather meaningless...
Not to mention setting it out like a poem...

(Sorry, I know this isn't an English class, but Jeez it's irritating!)

Speak to them. Maybe no one has told them how much they can be heard.

Of course they could observe if they live there full time that you are helping to deprive a local person of a home or pushing up house prices. Though they should object to that via the ballot box not by being noisy.

That comes across as really sarcastic and passive aggressive.

I'd be pissed off at that tone as the recipient.

Point it out of course, but be factual and polite. “ Dear owners, your holiday rental is well decorated and situated but wanted to let you know that noise carries through quite significantly from upstairs So there is a loud clunking sound which we assume is people walking round in shoes and the dog barks frequently. Is there anything you can do about this please - possibly not the dog but perhaps slippers indoors to reduce the volume?”