Having booked Graham’s place for two nights, we arranged to arrive on Saturday between 10.30 to 11pm, which he assured us was no problem. Me and my daughter arrived at 10.45pm to find a woman at the top of the stairs saying there was a problem. The windows were open, the lights were on and apparently Graham was at home, but not answering the door. The woman continued knocking loudly, made a half-hearted attempt to pick the lock and informed us that a taxi was on on it’s way to take her home. I told her we were happy to wait to get in to the flat, at which point she started ringing hotels that cost more than the room we had already paid for and sent us out into the night.
Not wanting to stay in the rough hotel she suggested, we wandered the streets, before finally booking the only other hotel we could afford online on a Saturday night/Sunday morning in Borehamwood, involving getting the night bus to Kentish Town and an overground train to Elstree, before arriving at a remote Travelodge in a state of exhaustion at around 3am. The next afternoon at 1.30pm we rang our still silent host, who blithely informed us he had got drunk and passed out. Graham implored us not to give him a bad review, before offering a refund for the first night only.
Luckily, we were able to get a refund for both nights, plus alternative accommodation for the Sunday and £50 towards the extra hotel (which cost us £108), from Air bnb. This meant most of the Sunday in London was spent messaging the Air bnb app, sending evidence and awaiting replies, before finally redeeming a voucher for a night in an Airbnb in West Hampstead. Should you choose to book Graham’s place, good luck with getting in, and if you do, with whatever lies behind his firmly closed door.