4/5 Good
William D.
25 May 2018
Turned out OK
First I have to mention that the apartment we ended up staying in was very nice, but I feel the bathroom and kitchen were smaller than the apartment we had originally booked.
Our stay was for May 3-7, 2018. I made my original request for booking last year on April 23, 2017. It was approved by the owner and I made my first deposit via PayPal on June 13, 2017, almost 11 months prior to arrival. I kept the owner appraised of the status of our trip during the intervening time.
On February 4, 2018, 3 months prior to arrival, the owner informed me that we would not be staying in her apartment but that of her neighbor because she had double-booked her apartment. She assured me that the neighbor's apartment was similar to and as nice as hers. I accepted this arrangement since I had already made the deposit and we were so close to traveling. I coordinated our arrival time (between 4 and 5 pm) with the original owner and she assured me that someone would be there to greet us at the aggreed upon time. Although she told me the name of the owner of the secondary apartment where we would be staying, she did not provide her address or number so I assumed that the original owner would be there to meet and greet us.
When we arrived, the owner was not around. We waited a bit then decided to go to the store to pick up provisions and returned within the agreed upon time period. The owner was still not present. I rang a couple of other doorbells and found someone who knew the owner and offered to call her. She did and the owner told her to have us ring the bell for a particular apartment. That turned out to be the neighbor, Beatrice, who's vacation rental we would be staying in.
Beatrice was exceptionally welcoming and made us feel right at home, even giving us some ice cubes to get us started on our evening cocktail. Beatrice checked on us one time and then properly left us to do our touring. She was always available for questions. The apartment was very nice, but I do feel that the bathroom was smaller because of the tub and that the kitchen was much small and less-well equipped.
I think it was unfair of the original owner to have double-booked this property after we had made a deposit. The fact that she was not around to greet us and relied on us to start knocking on doors was unsettling and we felt as though she had forgotten us.
This has been my first negative experience with HomeAway but it will not prevent me from booking future vacation rentals.
Thank you
