Holiday Cottage - would you expect to be compensated for this?

[Holidayaddict]

Thought about putting this on AIBU but would probably get replies saying I was being entitled Anyway, just a genuine question....

We stayed in a holiday cottage in the UK recently and unfortunately had bad weather which resulted in some minor flooding to the kitchen. The driveway was also flooded so we couldn't access our parking space for the majority of the stay. This was a pain as we had to park a 5 minute uphill walk away and parking had been one of our key criteria. We chose to remain in the cottage as to move would be more disruptive. However. we did spend considerable time cleaning up the kitchen the best we could, giving access to contractors/insurers and providing photos & videos for the owners insurance.

When we returned, we politely asked the cottage company if we would be due any compensation. While the weather is obviously not the owner's fault, we had lost the equivalent of a day of our holiday, had the inconvenience of no parking space & feel we had been particularly helpful. The cottage company agreed to approach the owner.

We've received a polite letter from the cottage company saying that, with regret, the owner is not prepared to offer any compensation. Apparently, the insurance company won't cover this as we chose to stay in the cottage. Fair enough, but DH & I agreed that, if it had been our cottage, we would've offered perhaps a day's rental back as goodwill.

From the tone of the letter, it seems cottage company may agree with us as they have said they regrettably cannot insist the owner compensates us. They have, however, offered us a £100 discount voucher for a future holiday. This is nice of them but not much use as we're unlikely to book another cottage holiday in the forseeable future plus £100 is not enough discount to entice us book one given the high cost of such holidays in school holidays so, effectively, zero compensation! I have written back politely stating that and asked if they could ask the owner to reconsider (which I know is unlikely).

So. AIBU? Even though I know this is the wrong forum

You chose to stay so yabu

I don’t think you can expect to be compensated for bad weather flooding a parking space. How could the owners have prevented that?

no yanbu. It is not exactly choosing to stay as I assume you would have had to go home in the middle of your holiday. I think the owners should compensate you for the days you spent when contractors were in the house and there was water all over the floor. If they won't then I would certainly make sure you review it and say what happened to you.

I think £100 off a future booking seems fair enough.

YABU.
If you were camping and had that weather ruined your tent, field turned to swamp you would have cut your losses, packed up and gone home.
If you were in Florida and there was a hurricane you would hunker down and be glad when it passed.
You were in a cottage, in the UK, you chose to stay, you were inconvenienced by having to walk to the car.
I don't see where you were due compensation.

£100 voucher seems fair, as long as it doesn't expire particularly quickly.

We were in Cornwall recently camping and came home two days early due to the forecast weather. I would never consider asking for a refund from the campsite which would be our equivalent of what you are doing.
£100 is a massive offer and you chose not to move property so I think you're just being very awkward for no reason. That £100 is compensation 🙄

Firstly, what alternative accommodation were you offered? I think it you were offered something suitable, but refused to move, you have effectively accepted tge issue as a 'non-issue '. I would not seek or expect compensation in that instance.
Secondly, it may be that from the owners pov, your insistence on staying, actually made it more difficult to sort out the problem albeit you believe you were being helpful. If I were the owner, I don't think I'd offer compensation.
So, on balance, I think yabu. Sorry.

I think the owner should have offered compensation as goodwill to you for being. accommodating to the situation.
If you'd have moved out they'd have lost money and had to be there for the insurance people etc.

But because the £100 voucher has been offered and is generous, I don't think there's much you can do.

YABU. The owner can't control the weather. He or she provides the cottage as advertised; and that is all

Given that you went above and beyond to help the owners out (taking insurance pics for them etc) I think they are being very tight!

I agree that a goodwill gesture would be nice and the reasonable thing to do but I don't think you can expect it. Just chalk it up to experience and move on.

You could suggest you will take the owners to small claims court for the equivalent of one days rent, it might encourage them to pay up now. I don't understand posters who think you are being unreasonable, no-one should be expected to deal with a flooded kitchen while on holiday.

I think flooded parking space no, flooded kitchen - absolutely yes. In a similar situation I have had an owner try to refund me the entire amount (did not accept). I would be giving them a trip advisor review that included all of the information you have in your op.

If you were offered an equivalent cottage you don't have a leg to stand on. Were you?

Yanbu- these holiday cottages are often in the 1000’s (ours was £2600) for a week- and like you the reason we chose the property was due to good parking and child friendliness. Could the company credit you the £100- instead of the voucher. I would hate to have to spend a day of what little holiday I get- dealing with contractors and mopping floors

Any decent owner would have compensated you. Flooding in the kitchen and dealing with contractors on behalf of the owner is not a holiday. What a massive ballache you saved them by actually being there and facilitating the repairs to their home. It's really shitty of them not to have acknowledged this. You also paid for a facility that was not available. They're tight money grabbers,op. If you'd been given that £100 as cash I bet you would have been more than happy. I'd write one more time as you have nothing to lose.

You chose to stay but as a holiday let owner, I'd have apologised profusely and sent a case of wine or arranged for a slap-up meal at a local restaurant/pub for the inconvenience it caused you and/or a gift voucher. I'm not a fan of demanding compensation but I think you were an exemplary guest who tried to help out and this should have been noted.

Flooded car park, no. Expenses resulting from flooded kitchen, meals out etc. yes. Floods in old cottages in the 21st century are rarely the first so owner should be insured.

We stayed in a "luxury" farmhouse once in Devon, booked a big family holiday for DH's 50th. The first full day we were there, we had water flooding through the kitchen ceiling and all the electric went off. We had to phone the owner (driving 4 miles down the road to get a signal on our phone) who was most put out and blamed us for overloading the system.... in a farmhouse that slept 12 and we had 10 people in . We had to go out for breakfast, throw away what was out on the worktops as it was all soaked, and had 2 days of them trying to sort the plumbing out - meaning we had to be out and eat out which we hadn't budgetted for. We then all had an upset stomach from the spring water supply. Given that we'd paid well over £2.5k for a week in this place, we were furious when refused any compensation. In the end after months of hassle, the holiday company offered us £100 of a future booking. Given their attitude, there is no way we'd ever book with them again. And they weren't anywhere near as "helpful" as their name suggests.

It's not unreasonable at all OP - it's not acceptable that you've spent peak holiday money on a cottage that you had an issue with, whoever's fault it was is irrelevant. No one goes on holiday and wants to deal with mess and tradesmen. You can stay home and deal with crap like that. I'd keep pushing.

I'd have offered you compensation for being so helpful, it would have been a lot more difficult for the owners if you hadn't been. Find a tactful way of noting this is the review.

@cansu that was our thinking. While it wasn't bad enough for us to abandon our holiday, it doesn't mean we weren't inconvenienced. We spent a lot of our time mopping up the water, cleaning and drying out the cupboards straightaway. If we hadn't bothered the damage would likely have been much worse as the rot would've set in. I understand they were able to honour the booking the following week which may not have been possible had we not done what we did.

The £100 voucher is only good compensation if you can use it which we're unlikely to (it's valid for 12 months). We've stressed to the cottage company we don't blame them and appreciate their efforts, just a bit disappointed with the owner.

Given that you went above and beyond to help the owners out (taking insurance pics for them etc) I think they are being very tight!

Sums it up really! Although they weren't obliged to, I know I would if I were in their shoes but maybe I'm just too nice

Was the flooding indoors as a result of any failure of the cottage itself (e.g leaking roof) or just from flooding outside?

I would have refunded you a day or more out of goodwill for the assistance you gave and in recognition that your holiday was disrupted.

I don’t think camping analogies work 100%: you oay for a cottage because you expect it to be watertight and withstand bad weather.

Are you sure you aren't entitled to cash compensation from the holiday company themselves? Feels like they are passing the buck!

Yeah I think your contract is with the holiday company (plus presumably this is part of the reason the owners went through an agency). I think the cottage owners should do something as a gesture but they are not obliged to if they offered you an equivalent alternative.