Upon arrival, the flat looked smaller than the pictures made it out to be. In my opinion it would be a squeeze for any more than 3 people due to the layout. Place looked different to what was advertised, more worn down and obviously not maintained too well (Chipped plates, tattered decorative pillows, marks on the walls etc). Turned the heating on as directed in the house manual and waited for an hour for the heat but no joy. Called the host and spent a while trying to fix the issue but couldn't so they sent a plumber who worked for a good 3 hours. Plumber was great and managed to get the heating up and running after a couple hours but since it is under floor heating (a fact that was not mentioned at all when booking) we were told it would take 3-4 hours for the house to properly heat up and there was no guarantee that the heating would stay fixed. This was at 11PM which means we would have had to sleep in the freezing cold until then. Conditions were unlivable. The host did have another space in the same building so we stayed in Savoy 5 instead of Savoy 1. However this was by NO MEANS an improvement. The space did have heating but it was absolutely filthy. Every floor in every room had stains and scuff marks. If anyone walking in the house with socks on, they became discoloured (even black socks). Downstairs toilet didn't have a lightbulb so it was pitch black in there. There was not a single clean spot on the sofa. It was incredibly dusty and had mysterious stains all over it. The chaise lounge part of the sofa was broken and sat a weird angle. Plates and bowls had food dried on to it, glasses were all cloudy. None of the dishes looked like they had been washed so we had to wash them all. This is where we realised that the sink is also blocked. Had to buy our own drain cleaner and clean it ourselves because we were sick of complaining by this point in the night. Upstairs was just as filthy. Stains on the landing, stairs and every room's carpet. Blinds in the rooms were snapped and broken. Wardrobe door was broken and hanging on the last hinge. Every surface was dusty. Particularly with covid, this was very unsanitary so we had to clean every surface ourselves with our own cleaning products since the accomodation had none. Doors to bedrooms and bathroom do not close properly, a small draught will blow it fully open. Two of the bedrooms only have a tiny sky light so you need to sleep with it cracked open otherwise it gets stuffy with in 5 minutes of going to bed. However if you do this then the bedroom doors bang all night from the pressure changes in the room. When showering in the bathroom, there is a leak where the bathtub meets the floor which causes the entire bathroom floor to be covered in water. Couldn't even shower in peace.
Honestly, the entire experience ruined what was supposed to be a weekend of celebration. What's worse is the COST of both the places is absolutely unreasonable. £994 pound for something ten times worse than student accommodation and only for 2 nights. My family and I were thoroughly disappointed at the state of both the places.
Hosts were responsive and well mannered but it is very clear that no one actually takes care of their properties and the images posted are very strategic. Very disappointed.