“The overall impression was that they wanted you to be there but not to actually do anything. The 39-”

Some of the information that Booking.com is providing about this property is incorrect. In particular: ‘A damage deposit of €300 is required on arrival. This will be collected by credit card. Your deposit will be refunded in full via credit card, subject to an inspection of the property.’ I expected to present a credit card and this deposit to be taken on arrival. In reality, the owners sent a link in a message in French telling me to pay the deposit to a website before arrival then I would be given the keys. Since my French is limited, much confusion was caused. I had to use a translator in a phone call to the property to find this out. I also had to phone Booking.com since the link was not on the booking website where they said it was. When I eventually found the link, it was to a company called Swikly and there was an extra €5.83 charge on top of the €300 for using the service! Booking.com had no knowledge of this and it is completely outside of their control. Looking at the reviews on Booking.com, at least one other person has had this same problem. There is a long list of restrictions on using the property which are provided on the booking, such as quiet hours overnight (the owners live downstairs) and a restriction on using excessive electricity. Fine for us during our stay, but since the only heating in the flat is electric, it would seem that you are expected to freeze in winter. Before arrival we were subjected to a deluge of messages concerning arrival time, a repeat of the long list of rules and unintelligible messages concerning the deposit. In addition, during the stay, we had a message from Ana about parking. The booking says that free public parking is available next to the property. This is correct, there was never a problem parking. Three spaces were on the street in front of the flat, with others to the rear: we were told not to park in these spaces at the front because it spoilt the view of the shop downstairs – it would seem that French (cont,)

“As above”

We were really annoyed. We we asked to pay a €300 deposit. My card, to pay this, was refused? I spent nearly 1 hour arguing at the doorstep with the host. I even offered my watch as a deposit. This request was not on the offer on Booking.com. It was 6.00 after a long drive!