I requested early check-in as we were attending a concert starting at 5pm at Wembley, I told them this and the hosts agreed 2pm. When we arrived at 2pm we opened the flat to find that it had not been cleaned, I tried to contact the host -they didn't respond. Worried but trying to stay calm, went to get coffee nearby in the hope they would get in touch. At gone 2.40pm they contacted me to say that the cleaner had been running late and was now having trouble getting in the flat - the door was broken and they were having to call in a locksmith. Again they didn't respond further and didn't answer my phone calls/ return my messages.
I walked back to the flat to find the cleaner on the doorstep - I asked what had caused her to run so late and she said she had been scheduled to be there for 2pm, which frustrated me. After waiting for a further 30 minutes I decided to take matters into my own hands - I climbed through a hole in the gate and through a bathroom window, I then let the cleaner in through another window and began stripping beds with her, I asked the cleaner to do her best in an hour and leave us fresh linen - I was left without a choice given we needed to get in and washed before the concert. I swept/mopped the floor and hoovered myself, we also were left with a large bag of dirty laundry in the bedroom as no one bothered to collect it.
The flat is nice and the garden is peaceful, it's such a shame that the people who are in charge of renting it either have no idea or couldn't care less about the experience of their guests.
I choose to reach out to the host again on my return home to make them aware of my dissapointment and then once again they didn't respond.
This was supposed to be a wonderful surprise for my mum's birthday instead it was disappointing. The stressful start to our two night stay, and the fact that it is very overpriced given the shoddy experience means I would urge anyone to think twice before booking this place. AVOID!