The place was fine, but the owner and his designee were TERRIBLE. Here’s why:
They do not have a key safe or coded entry. SO, they try to meet you at the flat right when you arrive in London. This causes huge problems for everyone involved.
We flew in to Heathrow—one of the most congested airports in the world. Our flight was an hour late. One of my kids was randomly selected for …something…In the passport line. Customs took forever because it was crowded. The luggage carousel was backed-up and we waited an additional hour for our luggage. We took the Tube in to Central London to save some money. The tube operators were on a partial strike so we waited an unusually long time for the trains.
So, our planned 3:00 arrival happened at more like 6:00 p.m.
Komla’s assistant, with the personality of a frustrated pit-viper, was there to meet us, and he was LIVID! He told us we were inconsiderate, he had waited for 4 hours, he was starving, etc.
I gave him money for a meal and apologized profusely. But gee—I had 3 exhausted teens with me and we had all been travelling for 15 hours. His obnoxiousness didn’t do anything to make us feel better or welcome or calmed. It was extremely inhospitable.
THEN, on checkout day, the minion-guy showed up at 9:30 a.m. to KICK US OUT! Checkout time is usually 11:00, but they said they had people coming in early!
Fortunately we had already packed and cleaned. We asked to leave our bags there while we got a rental car. Then we would come back and load our bags in the car.
Then there was a problem at the rental car agency, and we were delayed again! THE GUY FLIPPED, and sent me threatening, unkind texts about how I didn’t keep my word, how my word must mean nothing—making moral aspersions about me and insinuating that I was a liar for not returning for our bags in a timely manner!
He could have just stored them for a bit until the car thing was resolved. He (or his assistant guy), shouldn’t have booked the other family right on top of ours. Regardless, I didn’t appreciate the spitefulness and the attempts to deride me personally.
Was it because I am a single woman? An American? An overweight mom? Whatever his bias against me (and there definitely was one) I did not appreciate it.
The flat was fine, the owner and his hired-hand were jerks.