Prior to booking at Jacqui's place, we had read lots of reviews (as we do prior to any booking). Most were very positive. Only challenges appeared to be noise from the nearby township. None of the reviews mentioned sewage smells.
We arrived in the afternoon. Jacqui was friendly & welcoming. The property was as advertised. The property has multiple cottages and a very lovely communal area and swimming pool. The garden is very pretty. There was the expected noise.
We went out for supper & on our return there was a terrible sewage stench in the air. It was so strong that it permeated the inside of the house for the entire evening.
The next day I communicated with Jacqui's son and let him know about the stench & that we had decided to leave & book in elsewhere. He told me that there is a sewage plant 1km from the property & said that it had had issues with its filtering system but that had been repaired.
Subsequent comms with Jacqui revealed that there had been major issues with the sewage plant that affected the entire area - but Jacqui said the issues had been repaired.
Since i did not know of the plant but smelled the stench, it appears that there are still issues. However, Jacqui said that other guests on the property had not smelled the stench.
Based on conversation with Jacqui it appears that the smell is unpredictable.
I booked with Jacqui in good faith for 5 nights for what was meant to be a hassle free holiday. However i then had to look for alternative accommodation & the additional expenses that that process incurred.
Additionally, per Airbnb's policy i was refunded 2 nights out of 5 (if i had cancelled within 24 hours i would have been refunded 3 nights -- a lesson learned!).
To Airbnb's credit they opted to give me an additional one-off settlement amount on top of the policy based on my explanation of the events. Thank you for your conciliatory approach Airbnb!
Since the smell is not caused by anything on the property, Jacqui's property is not in violation of its listing.