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We are off tomorrow to Gran Canaria staying in a small villa with a small pool. Three days ago, the host asked us if we want the pool heating at £50 per day. It’s a 10 night stay so another £500, which is more than a third of the entire accommodation rental price.
I have looked again at the listing and cannot see that there is anything to suggest that pool heating is separate, or payable separately.
AI google suggests it shouldn’t be done by hosts, and leads to “pennies and dime”. I don’t want to cause a problem with the host so soon to the holiday and I don’t really want a cold pool. Do I just suck it up make a case after the holiday?
I'd be telling them not to worry you'll warm it up by pissing in it 😀
Hmmm they are expensive to heat if not solar powered, but £50 per day sounds a bit arbitarily high???
Kinda sus.
My issue is they are just just telling us now, we booked this months ago. It seems the host has over a barrel.
The pool will probably be warm enough to use without heating at this time of year I would have thought.
It might be for an adult swimming lengths, but if they have young kids playing in it, not so much.
It's a tricky one though – the OP can't just pay for it then complain to AirBnB afterwards (as no doubt they will say he accepted the charge) and they can't demand to get it without paying as the owner will simply refuse.
OP - how about explaining that the listing doesn't say anything about charges, and just try to negotiate it down a bit?
Edit: My Google...
No, an Airbnb host cannot charge for pool heating if it's not stated as a paid option in the listing description. If "heated pool" is listed as an amenity, it implies the cost is included in the booking price; charging extra would be against Airbnb's terms of service. If a host requests extra payment for an amenity that was not specified as having an extra cost, you can refuse the charge and report it to Airbnb, according to Airbnb's Help Centre.
So you can refuse (but the host may not switch it on) and report it, that's all. I guess AirBnB may give you a partial refund for not getting an amenity that you have paid for though?
The pool will probably be warm enough to use without heating at this time of year I would have thought.
It might be for an adult swimming lengths, but if they have young kids playing in it, not so much.
It's a tricky one though – the OP can't just pay for it then complain to AirBnB afterwards (as no doubt they will say he accepted the charge) and they can't demand to get it without paying as the owner will simply refuse.
OP - how about explaining that the listing doesn't say anything about charges, and just try to negotiate it down a bit?
Edit: My Google...
No, an Airbnb host cannot charge for pool heating if it's not stated as a paid option in the listing description. If "heated pool" is listed as an amenity, it implies the cost is included in the booking price; charging extra would be against Airbnb's terms of service. If a host requests extra payment for an amenity that was not specified as having an extra cost, you can refuse the charge and report it to Airbnb, according to Airbnb's Help Centre.
So you can refuse (but the host may not switch it on) and report it, that's all. I guess AirBnB may give you a partial refund for not getting an amenity that you have paid for though?
Based on that, it matters what the listing promised - if it listed just "pool" then you didn't pay for it to be heated, but if it listed "heated pool" then... you did.
Agree that £50/day to heat a small pool is taking the pee.
Raise a dispute with AirBnB before you go and put a marker down.
Or see if you can find alternative accommodation and cancel with AirBnB explaining why.
Make all responses to the host through the AirBnB messaging system and copy inot that any messages they have sent you outside it.
Good luck
Edit - if the listing doesn't say heated pool, then you may be out of luck.
Come and stay in our Airbnb in Cumbria. The freezing beck is free!
Spoke to AirBnB, they were pretty good to be fair. They’ve told us to pay it, possibly asked for a discount, then call them when we get home with our provided case number and we will get it back, under their “Aircover” scheme. The agent reviewed the listing and the exchanges with the host to date on the AirBnB platform and said that if heating was an extra, it should be specified. It doesn’t seem to matter that it only says pool, they cannot add on an undisclosed amenity at a later date. That’s a big no no. Cynical, but clearly it suits the host to be economical with the offering, but AirBnB appear to put he customer first.
They are going to contact the host when we get back and tell them to update the listing.
Really the advert should say.. Private pool... Unheated but we can turn the pool heating on at an extra cost of x. To be transparent.
If it was advertised as heated in the first place it sounds like a cash grab to me. A bit under handed /mis represented.
I have a private pool and the rental just says that.. Private pool.
It's not heated as it would be ruinously expensive as it's about 5m x 12m.
But then I don't let it out via Airbnb, I use a proper letting agent so whist that comes with a cost, it's not a problem I need to care about.
A heated outdoor pool is probably the exception rather than the norm. In my case.. If I had heating I'd say it was heated and the rental price would be x% more to accommodate the extra cost.
It seems a bit underhanded to charge it as an extra.
It's actually illegal in Spain to recharge electric to villa guests, it doesn't cost 50gbp per day, maybe day one to get it up to comfort level. It should be covered at night but day 2 onwards I m guessing 10gbp per day.
Once you are in you can get arsey and ask for tourist licence, it's a 30k fine if they don't have one displayed.
Also, last day you don't heating due to latent heat of pool.
Good luck don't let it ruin your holiday.
It's actually illegal in Spain to recharge electric to villa guests, it doesn't cost 50gbp per day, maybe day one to get it up to comfort level. It should be covered at night but day 2 onwards I m guessing 10gbp per day.
Once you are in you can get arsey and ask for tourist licence, it's a 30k fine if they don't have one displayed.
Also, last day you don't heating due to latent heat of pool.
Good luck don't let it ruin your holiday.
This is true, I'm all above board with my rental with tax and registration etc, .. my pool is unheated, but I know for a damn fact any guests will leave the air-con inside the villa dialed up to 11 whilst they bugger off down the beach for the day... it costs a fortune in electricity, so I assume they will take the piss, and I charge all inclusive, and so I assume a worst case scenario and build that cost into the weekly or pro-rata rental price.
That's why it's expensive to rent villas.
I once got a complain from a family that my pool guy came into the garden to do his bi-weekly pool maintenence... apparently it startled them... I mean c'mon, swimmin pools don't keep themselves clean.. I don't know what these people think, sometimes, the magical pool fairy visits when they are all asleep, like santa clause? lol!
Erm, costs a fortune to heat a pool. Probably needs to be high 20's and at this time of year an unheated pool will be bloody freezing even if daytime temps are in the 20's. To keep a hot tub ticking over at 25c whilst not used is about £3 a day. This is just 800-900 litres. A pool will be many more times that.
Erm, costs a fortune to heat a pool. Probably needs to be high 20's and at this time of year an unheated pool will be bloody freezing even if daytime temps are in the 20's. To keep a hot tub ticking over at 25c whilst not used is about £3 a day. This is just 800-900 litres. A pool will be many more times that.
Depends on the location, I'm on the southern coast of spain, and this time of year, it's a bit 'bracing' to be fair, when you first get in, but it's not cold when you are swimming etc.
But I do agree, an outdoor heated pool will use a shit load of electricity compared to a sex-pond.
It doesnt sound like the OP's pool is that big though, more of a 'splash pool'? so an extra £50 per day for heating seems like scalping to me.
They should just put the rental price up by £50 per day if they are that precious about it.
I'm going to go leftfield and say I feel a bit sorry for the owner now.....
They didn't advertise it as a heated pool (from your 2nd post) and tbh I wouldn't have expected it to be as I've never stayed anywhere (hotel or villa) in that part of the world with a heated pool. You book somewhere at this time of year with a pool and you think "that'll be a nice thing to sit around and look at and I might get my inner Wim Hoff on and take a plunge'. But I'm not envisaging margaritas whilst doing my dozing sea otter impression in the pool hour after hour.
But he makes the error of telling you there's actually a heater and it's possible to heat it but it'll cost you a shit load....because it costs a shit load. And you say yes but unbeknownst to him you've agreed in advance with the agent that he'll get shafted for paying for it after you've left and finished enjoying it.
Maybe it's because I run a holiday let and appreciate the margins are way way tighter than your average tommy appreciates - but I'm going to call a no fair on this one.
I'm going to go leftfield and say I feel a bit sorry for the owner now.....
They didn't advertise it as a heated pool (from your 2nd post) and tbh I wouldn't have expected it to be as I've never stayed anywhere (hotel or villa) in that part of the world with a heated pool. You book somewhere at this time of year with a pool and you think "that'll be a nice thing to sit around and look at and I might get my inner Wim Hoff on and take a plunge'. But I'm not envisaging margaritas whilst doing my dozing sea otter impression in the pool hour after hour.
But he makes the error of telling you there's actually a heater and it's possible to heat it but it'll cost you a shit load....because it costs a shit load. And you say yes but unbeknownst to him you've agreed in advance with the agent that he'll get shafted for paying for it after you've left and finished enjoying it.
Maybe it's because I run a holiday let and appreciate the margins are way way tighter than your average tommy appreciates - but I'm going to call a no fair on this one.
I agreee with you, but it's a transparency thing, IMO. if it wasn't advertised as heated, it seems a bit slimey to me to say 'but yeah we'll heat it for an extra £50 per day'... after the booking... I suspect that's an arbitary inflated figure the owners came up with.
but that's airb&b for you, its like eBay, full of cowboys.
for example I charge about 300 euros per night pro rata (I don't do lets for less than 4 days). thats to accomodate guests taking the piss with the air-con etc... I could charge less but I have to assume they will take the piss, so the price goes up for everyone, otherwise I would actually cost me money to rent the place out.
if it wasn't advertised as heated, it seems a bit slimey to me to say 'but yeah we'll heat it for an extra £50 per day'
Nah- not for me. It's like advertising a villa with a little beach and jetty and contacting the guests and saying "we can provide you with a wee boat to go in that jetty if you fancy it for an extra £xxx".
And yeah, £50 a day sounds a lot but it could be a crappy inefficient system. For context the 20m indoor pool with a cover at my work costs £80k a year to heat. And that's a system that uses gas as well as leccy so much more cost efficient (though admittedly many times more volume). People underestimate quite how expensive pools are to heat.
That’s what irks, if it is capable of being heated, they should say, and this is according to AirBnB, that they will be an extra cost to heat it on the villa description and amenities list. It’s classed as an extra payable amenity and should be declared as such up front.
Leaving it as “pool” is ambiguous if down the line they add a charge they should have told you about from day 1.
And yes, if he hadn’t have offered the heating option I would have been none the wiser and got there, found it freezing, raised it with host and they could have said it was never promoted as heated. From speaking to AirBnB, they sounded to take a fairly dim view of the host for doing this.
Just to add, the extra £500 for heating the pool would have stopped us from booking this if it had been declared upfront. Contrary to the above, every villa I’ve been to in the Canaries and Balearics has had a heated pool, and I’ve never paid extra on top of the standard booking. Presumably hosts do like mentioned above and include it in the daily price.
If it's advertised as heated the owner can't charge you extra. If it's advertised as a pool, but the owners given you an option to heat it for 50gbp per day, then you have a choice. You could offer to pay metered costs, but that's illegal as per rental licence terms.
As said, guests are shockingly wasteful, I hated charging 200 GBP for electricity as that's the max, as good loyal clients were penalised. A heated pool does eat through chems too.
Be careful getting arsey before you arrive or he may cancel you. Once you are in you can negotiate as you are in.
found it freezing, raised it with host
Would you? Maybe I live a sheltered non premium life but I'd never have presumed it to be heated.
If it's advertised as heated the owner can't charge you extra. If it's advertised as a pool, but the owners given you an option to heat it for 50gbp per day, then you have a choice.
Yep, agree, but the option and choice ought to have been offered at the time of booking, not three days before we are due to arrive.
if it wasn't advertised as heated, it seems a bit slimey to me to say 'but yeah we'll heat it for an extra £50 per day'
Nah- not for me. It's like advertising a villa with a little beach and jetty and contacting the guests and saying "we can provide you with a wee boat to go in that jetty if you fancy it for an extra £xxx".
And yeah, £50 a day sounds a lot but it could be a crappy inefficient system. For context the 20m indoor pool with a cover at my work costs £80k a year to heat. People underestimate quite how expensive pools are to heat.
Oh for sure, it's no joke, my pool is unheated, and my pool guy charges me €1350 per year just for weekly hoovering and chemicals, etc. any unforseen problems cost extra.
Brexit has poisoned the well too, as being a non EU citizen, you have to pay 24% income tax off the top line of the rental, as opposed to a european citizen, they only have to pay 19%, and they can use offsets for things like maintenence and insurance costs, which I can't claim as a 3rd world UK citizen.
You weren't even expecting it to be heated by the sounds of it. Now all of a sudden you have the option you've decided you don't want a cool pool and don't want to pay for it to be heated either. Suck it up.
BTW, it's currently 23 degrees at 21.00 in Gran Canaria and is averaging 28/29 degrees all week in the daytime. You/the kids will be reet
I've just got back from Cyprus where my mum's place has an unheated pool. It was bracing, to say the least, and the sea was warmer.
You weren't even expecting it to be heated by the sounds of it.
I was, on the basis that previous villas I’ve been to had heated villas. And I’ve seen listings where heating is an option. Yes, made an assumption etc it would be heated in the absence of heating being an option.
Transpires that the host, a business with around 30 villas, hasn’t complied with listing rules. That’s their look out.
Strange... I'd expect places with a heated pool to me proprortionatley more expensive to rent.
Heated outdoor pools certainly arn't the norm due to the running costs.
Our spend on villas has diminished proportionally as they kids have left home, so it’s a small villa for two.
I really can’t see any argument for not being transparent in the listing.
The pool can be heated for an additional £50 a day.
I mean how hard is that.
If you can rent me a boat, great let me know in the listings
Any way have a great holiday
If you can rent me a boat, great let me know in the listings
But if you failed to say there was a boat available to rent in the advent does that mean the customer is entitled to have it for free?
In the interest of science I did a quick search of villas in Gran Canaria with pools. Looked at about 20. Not a single one said if the pool was heated or not. Not one. Given most people (apart from apparently the OP) are aware that most villa pools are unheated and given the information supplied by seemingly ALL villa owners I think it's fair that the OP should have assumed the one he'd rented was unheated. A quick Google suggests some (mostly 4&5 star) but not all hotels on the island are heated but most villas are not.
I'll say it again - whilst the owner should have probably have added the option to the listing for clarity, I don't think there has been anything sly about their actions....regardless of what an Airbnb employee might say.
I once got a complain from a family that my pool guy came into the garden to do his bi-weekly pool maintenence... apparently it startled them... I mean c'mon, swimmin pools don't keep themselves clean.. I don't know what these people think, sometimes, the magical pool fairy visits when they are all asleep, like santa clause?
I don't own a pool, but if a place that I was staying in had one I'd expect it to be cleaned during the changeover between guests the same as the rest of the cleaning. If there was a random guy turning up several times during my stay, I would expect at least a heads up at check in.
I don't own a pool, but if a place that I was staying in had one I'd expect it to be cleaned during the changeover between guests the same as the rest of the cleaning. If there was a random guy turning up several times during my stay, I would expect at least a heads up at check in.
Hmmm, I don't agree – assuming the person didn't rock up in the middle of the day when the pool was in use, it is quite normal for pools in hotels to be closed overnight for cleaning and maintenance on a daily basis and I would expect to see a similar level of maintenance in a villa pool (bi-weekly seems fair for a pool that probably won't get such heavy daily usage).
I don't own a pool, but if a place that I was staying in had one I'd expect it to be cleaned during the changeover between guests the same as the rest of the cleaning. If there was a random guy turning up several times during my stay, I would expect at least a heads up at check in.
Think about that logically.....pool guy does this for a living - full time. Given that changeovers disproportionally favour specific days of the week and are not evenly distributed over the 7 days (because we, the customer, want our holidays to align with our working week if possible) how would you make that happen? Pool guy is not Santa Claus able to visit the whole world in a single night.
Doesn't mean he shouldn't knock mind.
I don't own a pool, but if a place that I was staying in had one I'd expect it to be cleaned during the changeover between guests the same as the rest of the cleaning. If there was a random guy turning up several times during my stay, I would expect at least a heads up at check in.
Hmmm, I don't agree – assuming the person doesn't rock up in the middle of the day when the pool is in use, it is quite normal for pools in hotels to be closed overnight for cleaning and maintenance on a daily basis and I would expect to see a similar level of maintenance in a villa pool (bi-weekly seems fair for a pool that probably won't get such heavy daily usage).
(bi-weekly seems fair for a pool that probably won't get such heavy daily usage)
Twice a week or every two weeks?
Given that changeovers disproportionally favour specific days of the week and are not evenly distributed over the 7 days (because we, the customer, want our holidays to align with our working week if possible) how would you make that happen?
I've never thought about the logistics of it before, its something that happens without me noticing, like the rest of the cleaning. Its logical that they would need to clean it, but as I said I wouldn't have expected someone to rock up unannounced as I wouldn't have the idea that it needs to be cleaned during my stay. If someone had told me "the pool person will arrive on Tuesday and Friday morning for a few hours" I wouldn't mind at all.
Very much going off on a tangent, but an indication of the stupid calls AirBnB make (and their ability to do U turns)....
We don't use AirBnb but a friend up the lane does for a very nice, but simple, eco cabin/chalet deep in the woods she owns. She got an enquiry from a man interested in renting for 6 months off season. She said he could only have 2 months and 29days as that's all her planning and insurance allowed and they settled on a discounted rate for a longer than normal let. All through AirBnB. A couple of weeks later the guest said he wanted a telly. The listing not only doesn't show a TV but it specifically talks about it being a get away from it all location without one. Guy contacts AirBnB and one of their 12 year old reps messaged the owner and said given the length of the booking it should be considered a basic necessity and if she didn't provide him with one they would refund the guest a sizable chunk of the money. She went back and said, she didn't have one, the chalet didn't have an ariel (and given the location an indoor job wouldn't work) and it didn't have a TV licence and most importantly the listing specifically said it didn't have one.
Some days passed and her next statement from AirBnB showed a few hundred pound refund against her account to the guest. She's a feisty German lady and got hold of the AirBnB CEO's email address and let rip. Shortly after an underling for the CEO came back and said words to the effect that the 12 year rep didn't know their arse from their elbow and reversed the decision. Guest then got stroppy that he had been recharged and moved out...because staying for 3 months in an eco cabin advertised without a TV and not actually having a TV was something he was not prepared to suffer.
Moral of story....if there is one....AirBnB employ people with no common sense prepared to make it up as they go and management are not adverse the messing it up further by reversing their front office staff's decisions (without obviously taking the financial hit themselves which would have been the obvious solution in this case). And guests can be muppets.
Twice a week or every two weeks?
Twice a week.
And also, we'd all expect to see cleaners come in to our villa/hotel/apartment regularly, so why be surprised to see someone come in to clean the pool?
@convert there are loads of similar stories on the AirBnB Host's facebook pages; always an entertaining read especially if it's one of the more gammon flavoured members getting irate at a perceived injustice. 'It's not a bloody hotel' etc. etc.
I'm no expert on villa holidays, but unlike the holiday-home renter-outers on here, I would assume that a pool would be heated/comfortable to use, and I'd be pretty miffed to find a hole in the ground filled with tap water. I wouldn't be miffed about someone coming to clean the pool, but in a private villa rental, I would expect a head's up to expect their arrival.
I once got a complain from a family that my pool guy came into the garden to do his bi-weekly pool maintenence... apparently it startled them... I mean c'mon, swimmin pools don't keep themselves clean.. I don't know what these people think, sometimes, the magical pool fairy visits when they are all asleep, like santa clause?
I don't own a pool, but if a place that I was staying in had one I'd expect it to be cleaned during the changeover between guests the same as the rest of the cleaning. If there was a random guy turning up several times during my stay, I would expect at least a heads up at check in.
It doesn't work like that, I dunno about hotel pools, but private pools need cleaning twice a week, only for about an hour each time, and to check/top up the chemicals.
Little and often maintenence is critical.
Also, unsupprisingly, I'm not my pool guys only customer, if he has an urgent job, he might turn up to mine later in the day, or even the next day, to do mine.
I'm no expert on villa holidays, but unlike the holiday-home renter-outers on here, I would assume that a pool would be heated/comfortable to use,
As has already been noted, it's 27 degrees in GC at the moment dropping to low 20s at night, so sitting in the sun will be very, very warm. An unheated pool will feel cold initially but not once you get used to it. You know, refreshing after being baked on your lounger. A heated pool will feel like going from an oven into a warm bath. That's the one I'd find unpleasant.
I don't own a pool, but if a place that I was staying in had one I'd expect it to be cleaned during the changeover between guests the same as the rest of the cleaning
Villa changeover times are usually at the same time (i.e. Saturday morning) so, unless the pool guy has the ability to stop time, then your expectation is going to be unfulfilled!
The one and only rental villa i've stayed in with a pool had a laminated poster inside the front door with all this sort of info on it. So we didn't use the pool on Wednesday morning for the hour or so he was there.If someone had told me "the pool person will arrive on Tuesday and Friday morning for a few hours" I wouldn't mind at all.
Villa changeover times are usually at the same time (i.e. Saturday morning) so, unless the pool guy has the ability to stop time, then your expectation is going to be unfulfilled!
Like I said, its not that I think its unreasonable, its something I'd never thought about and just something that happened in the background. Its not my pool, so why would I think about it. I don't consider when the boiler is serviced or the carpet changed in my AirBnB either, it just happens when I'm not there.
"As has already been noted, it's 27 degrees in GC at the moment dropping to low 20s at night, so sitting in the sun will be very, very warm. An unheated pool will feel cold initially but not once you get used to it. You know, refreshing after being baked on your lounger. A heated pool will feel like going from an oven into a warm bath. That's the one I'd find unpleasant."
While I might not have stayed in many villas, I have stayed in the odd hotel, in high temperatures, with unheated pools.
They tended to be pretty empty, and I/we ended up not using them - YMMV (especially if you own a villa you rent out but don't want to pay for the heating...)
Up there someone mentioned a hypothetical boat as part of the advert, something like "waterside property with jetty and boat"
At the time of booking, weeks before arriving, I'd think that use of the boat was included. If the host contacted me 24hrs before arrival saying a can of petrol was 50GBP and mooring changes were 20GBP/week and this would be charged on top of the booking then either I wouldn't be using the boat or I'd complain as per the OP. Or both. It's not difficult to be clear in an advert.
This is why if possible I avoid AirBnb with their add-ons and prefer Booking.com with their simple end price. AirBnb is the Ryanair of holiday rentals IMHO.
Assume heating with a 1kW heat pump running for 24h and 20€ cents/kWh of cheap Canary island leccy and you have the grand total of 5€ a day.
I detested Lanzarote as much as I love Northern Spain.
In Northern Spain I feel welcome and that my custom is appreciated. In Lanzarote every one I encountered was trying to rip me off. From the bus driver who demanded an extortionate back hander in cash to carry our bikes in boxes - the transport was inclused in the price of triathlon training camp. Long argument in Spanish, I rode off on my bike (the others called cheaper taxis) but not before I'd found grease from the engine to smear down the bus whilst inviting him to call the police . The pool wasn't heated, filthy, not enough guests was the claim. The place was sandy,, dusty, in need of renovation. Happily the place had a kitchen so we could go to the supermarket with clearly marked prices and self cater rather than frequent the fish and chips English pub shit hole grease ball warmed up food selling places. Windy, dusty, lousy drivers. Never again.
I understand the lack of enthusiasm of local workers. Lousy pay and conditions serving conspicuously rich tourists and hateful bosses.
But I don't want to be a part of that when I can travel in real Spain in small family run hotels, proper B and Bs (direct or with booking.com, never airbnb), eating in restaurants the locals use and sharing the roads with considerate drivers. And no flying needed.
Up there someone mentioned a hypothetical boat as part of the advert, something like "waterside property with jetty and boat"
I mentioned the boat......but what you've written there is not the scenario I made up and wrote - you've just made up a different scenario.
I once got a complain from a family that my pool guy came into the garden to do his bi-weekly pool maintenence... apparently it startled them... I mean c'mon, swimmin pools don't keep themselves clean.. I don't know what these people think, sometimes, the magical pool fairy visits when they are all asleep, like santa clause? lol!
Friends of ours were at thier rural holiday cottage when the owner popped round like a magical pool fairy at 8.30am one morning to pop chemicals in the hot tub. Unfortunately this meant that the owner startled a naked woman stood looking at the view with her morning cuppa.
So while I agree that maintenance should happen, it's also very easy to put into the instructions 'pool man arrives at 11am on Wednesday' or some such similar, or indeed do the maintenance on changeover day.
I once got a complain from a family that my pool guy came into the garden to do his bi-weekly pool maintenence... apparently it startled them... I mean c'mon, swimmin pools don't keep themselves clean.. I don't know what these people think, sometimes, the magical pool fairy visits when they are all asleep, like santa clause? lol!
Friends of ours were at thier rural holiday cottage when the owner popped round like a magical pool fairy at 8.30am one morning to pop chemicals in the hot tub. Unfortunately this meant that the owner startled a naked woman stood looking at the view with her morning cuppa.
So while I agree that maintenance should happen, it's also very easy to put into the instructions 'pool man arrives at 11am on Wednesday' or some such similar, or indeed do the maintenance on changeover day.
To be fair it was my pool guy who texted me about the incident... To preemptively warn me if they contacted the agency.
So I told the letting agent to make sure there's something added to the welcome pack that people get which is just like a little fact sheet for the property with emergency numbers, dos and donts etc..
Thing is though he usually on time but it's not out of the ordinary for him not to be, but at least it's a reminder to guests that there will be access required.
I guess it was an oversight by the agency. Kinda funny though.
This is why if possible I avoid AirBnb with their add-ons and prefer Booking.com with their simple end price. AirBnb is the Ryanair of holiday rentals IMHO.
That's anecdotes for you. I'd say the opposite. With one exception - the place clearly hadn't been cleaned in forever - I've had nothing but good experiences with AirBnB. Booking dot com on the other hand... random example, one time we arrived in the arse end of France to a hotel which was full and had no record of our booking. They sorted us out in the end, B.C were as much use as tits on a fish.
It's been a few years now since I've used either though, and companies can change for better or worse.
I use a bricks and mortar local estate agent to handle lettings, just seems better for me and they give me a spreadsheet of income/expenses so it makes it nice and easy to work out tax etc. hiccups happen but it is what it is.
Presumably they market through booking.dom etc as well as locally but thats not really my department - they have an in house booking software so its not really possible to double book -I can log into that aswell and see whats booked and when.