Inspired by another thread in legal but so as not to hijack, thought I'd start a thread here.
We've just come back from two weeks in a holiday let in southern Europe, having lined the pockets of a very rude owner. A few things have come up and I have been minded to leave a rather blunt review on Booking.com. I am weighing this up against expending any more negative energy on this with the fact the property was expensive and when booking something on one of these sites it would be nice to think you could rely at least somewhat on the feedback before making the same mistake yourself.
Alongside this, I do wonder if in a 'recollections may vary' scenario she may be able to take some sort of action against us if her ratings plummet.
Firstly - the place was an oven and she was totally shocked that the temp bedrooms she characterised as 'fresh' were in fact uncomfortably hot. I actually felt sick first night, I was so hot, my husband was sleeping in the kitchen under the one fan that did exist. If we'd had younger children than teens with us we would have had to leave. We mentioned this to the owner whose response was 'Really?????" Every other reviewer in the universe characterised the rooms as 'fresh' evidently. No wildfires where we were but I think most people in the world knew that southern Europe was dangerously hot. Refused to buy fans for us. I mean - this problem is not going away (maybe she's a climate change denier???) and I'd be surprised it wasn't an investment she felt she needed to make. Thought we could invest in her property for her, evidently.
On the topic of ovens - the electricity in the flat dated to...very likely the time of the previous princeling running the island. I have photos of some of the different types of sockets we found (which I won't post here.) Turning the oven on tripped the electricity. Apparently that was broken and the small alternative device on the countertop couldn't be plugged in anywhere. To our question we received this What's App: "Why are you trying to cook anywhere if it's REALLY 45 degrees?!"
Two garden chairs for inside in a property for five people so nowhere to relax in the evening.
Fridge that didn't close properly and we had to put a chair against.
There are other bits and pieces you'd want to know if you did have small children or anyone with mobility issues.
In the UK, I strongly suspect this property would not be approved for use on a holiday let booking site (I have reason to know.)
What surprised me is this woman is under 30 - so you would think probably internet savvy and maybe a bit wary of reviews?
She kept coming back to 'it's not in description' - no, fans are not specifically in the description but don't be a dolt. Local friends on the island were shocked there weren't any in the bedrooms or air con - I wasn't expecting air con, which I said to her. But the total lack of interest in our comfort was unbelievable.
Still - maybe our complaints could be met with I'm mad enough to sue you for libel because it wasn't in the description.
Her parting shot was a seriously patronising message encouraging us to just 'look at the view' whenever we were feeling stressed.
Honestly, I do have something of sense of humour about this but my credit card bill hasn't come yet.
Curious if others would write the review and be damned.