My fiance and I booked a night here for one reason and one reason only; it has a fireplace. The listing clearly states that it has a “fully functional antique fireplace” which we found very exciting. When we picked up the keys (at a restaurant 15 minutes walk away) we asked if there was anything we needed to know about the fireplace and were informed by the person working there (the owner’s assistant) that the fireplace was purely decorative and did not actually work. Confused, we walked over to the flat and looked around. The fireplace came loaded with several logs, and underneath the fireplace was a box containing sever fire lighters and some kindling. There was a complete set of fire tools, and the fireplace clearly had scorch marks in it.
I contacted the owner to ask about the situation and was told that he had to ask his boss and would call us back. A few minute later, we received another call letting us know that we were, in fact, allowed to use the fireplace. This was a bit odd, but we were excited about it. A few hours later we decided to start a fire. I noticed that a few of the logs had already been partially burned, but didn’t think much of it.
I opened the vent, started the fire, and within the first minute, the entire apartment had filled with smoke. We had to pour several liters of water onto the fire to out it out, but at this point the whole flat was full of smoke. We opened the windows and had to spend the next hour sitting with all of the windows open while it was -15 outside.
Needless to say, this enter situation absolutely ruined the entire experience. For the rest of the night – and the next morning – the whole place was freezing. This is blatant false advertising and reckless endangerment. It turns out, that the fireplace is not actually up to code, and when I contacted the host the next morning, he informed me that it was actually illegal to operate the fireplace as is does not meet legal requirements for safety. Things could’ve gotten very bad, very quickly. This is a clear danger to guests in the house.