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

I would add that we were in WhatsApp contact with the owners, sending them pics, updating them on contractor visits etc. She thanked us and said we were "very kind".

It depends on whether the cottage company are just brokers. There are different types of agreements.

You have kind of shot yourself in the foot saying you won’t be back anyway: if they do make any refund it is likely to be in the basis of retaining customer loyalty. You have already told them you are a future non-customer.

I stayed in an air b n b flat recently and one day the electric went out and the meter needed replacing,only took a couple of hours and they were on it immediately even thought the owner was in France. She refunded us a night's stay.

A family member has a holiday cottage. 25% of the fee goes direct to the agency for marketing and managing the property. All the other costs - gas, electricity, water, repairs, new equipment, council tax, gardening, windows, cleaning & laundry etc goes out of the remaining 75%. There isn't a huge amount left. She pays the agency 25% so that they deal with everything related to the let and so in this case I think it is the Agency who should be organising compensation.

You have kind of shot yourself in the foot saying you won’t be back anyway: if they do make any refund it is likely to be in the basis of retaining customer loyalty. You have already told them you are a future non-customer.

We didn't actually say that. We said we had no plans to book such a holiday in the next year and £100 wasn't enough discount to incentivise us to do so. We've made it clear we've no beef with them as a company (I definitely would consider using them in the future), just disappointed with the attitude of the owner.

Not sure why you didn't move.

We stayed in a beautiful holiday let in Cornwall and halfway through one of the showers started leaking into the shop below. It wasn't a major inconvenience to us, the flat had 3 showers so we still had 2 to use and the owner was round the corner to let the plumber in had we not been there.

As it was, we were indoors that evening anyway but the owner turned up with the plumber, who had the problem fixed in around half an hour. As he was leaving the owner said 'sorry about all that, will fish and chips make up for it?' and he went next door to the chippie and bought dinner for all 8 of us!

I think YANBU, you were really inconvenienced (the parking space not so much, unless one of you is disabled) but the flooded kitchen is a real issue and if they didn't offer you a suitable alternative then I think they're BU.

@Shadowboy

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

how many people was this for? A big group I hope.

We had a week in a beautiful cottage in a village in Suffolk for 675 and this was in August for 4 of us. The most we've ever paid is around 900 for a more luxurious place at a peak time.

How much would one night's rental be?

I am obviously a soft touch. If I was the cottage owner and someone staying had to deal with flooding, insurance companies etc, particularly in a kitchen, I would be offering 50% of the fees back. If OP hadn't handled things, the owner would have had to. They are beyond tight.

As a holiday cottage owner I would have been very appreciative of your assistance and understanding. Obviously the weather is beyond an owners control but a bottle of fizz and some flowers or the offer of a meal out wouldn't have gone amiss.

P.S. I meant to say that OP, my answer to you would depend completely on whether or not they offered you alternative accommodation.

If they did, and you chose not to take it, then YABU.

But if they didn't, then YANBU to expect compensation for a flooded kitchen.

YANBU expecting some compensation under those circumstances, but you would have been much better to ask when you were there and particularly when you were in the process of emailing the photos and helping them with their insurance claim.

I think a £100 discount would have been a much fairer outcome and I'd keep pursuing them further.

YABU

Ime cottage owners are tight buggars!!
Once paid 2k for a cottage in Scotland, (rebooked the week we came home with £300 deposit).
I had to hoover all downstairs and clean hard floors +kitchen before I could let ds down on the floor - not yet walking.
After returning home (after paid next deposit) we realised ds's DS had been left behind.
Cottage owner refused to post it until we had transfered the cost of the postage.
£2.75.
She sent it to the wrong address and it was sent back. She refused to resend it.
We got it back the next year when we arrived!
Didn't rebook after that!

OP if you have the cottage owners details from sending through information, I'd suggest contacting them directly. It's totally off of them to not at least offered you something as a gesture- even a bottle of wine or bunch of flowers for you having been put out and I think they need to be told that they aren't behaving professionally.

YANBU. I would have offered/expected a bit of compensation or some wine/chocolates.

You were more than reasonable considering the disruption.

When we reported the issue to the company they asked if we were ok to stay or if we wanted them to find us somewhere else. By then, we had already spent the time mopping & cleaning up (we couldn't just leave it!) and got the kitchen usable, so felt to have the upheaval of packing up and moving somewhere else which may not be as nice and causing more delay to our holiday just wasn't worth the hassle. However, just because we chose to stay put doesn't mean we weren't inconvenienced. We weren't seeking big compo, just a day back for our trouble would've been nice (£100 approx). I also would've been more than happy with wine, a meal or similar as suggested by others. The owner who bought the fish & chips sounds lovely Seems we just picked a meanie!

YANBU expecting some compensation under those circumstances, but you would have been much better to ask when you were there and particularly when you were in the process of emailing the photos and helping them with their insurance claim.

We did think about that but, as we'd had a lot of (quite friendly I thought) contact with them, wanted to give them the chance to offer and were actually rather surprised when they didn't . Barely got a thank you, apart from the "you're very kind" comment

Even if you had moved it would have been an inconvenience! Repacking, driving, unpacking..
They are miserable sods!

Some holiday home owners seem to forget that you are a valued paying customer not an inconvenience. I bet they were so focused on the repairs needed that they forgot about the disruption to your holiday.

I think you should be offered a refund for the day in question - look at the contract and the obligations the provider of the cottage is under (whether that's the holiday company or end owner) you had a day where what was provided wasn't up to scratch and suspect that will entitle you to claim. Check it, send another letter to both parties then file a claim. It is certainly not you as the end user who should suffer the loss here, the fact the owners insurance company may or may not compensate them is neither here nor there.