_It was hard to get the keys. The host was not really flexible and wanted us to give a precise arrival time despite the impossible traffic jams of the Paris area. The host complained that she could not call back because I did not have a French mobile phone and there is a fee to call back. She still did call back and I could get the key at the time I arrived.
I had a 15min window to arrive, otherwise I would have to wait an hour with my little kids.
_The host was not always responsive
_Check out time was also not really flexible, with a fee of 25 euros per extra hour.
_The caution is 500 euros cash on arrival. First time in my life the caution is much higher than the price I paid for the stay.
_The host was not friendly at all, almost scary. I stressed out knowing that I had to vacuum the place next day since she could keep some cash from the caution if not pleased with the final cleanup.
_There is no parking available for many cars: the car must be high enough above the ground otherwise it will hit the ground. The host told me she sent me a message about it. I checked and could not see where it was written.
_The garden is in a pretty bad state:
-The garden table is a pile of woods, not stable at all, dangerous for anyone trying to push it... This was not mentioned by the host.
-Garden chairs were having long holes.
-The garden baby swing was broken. This was not mentioned by the host. My kids figured it out themselves.
That is by far the worst host I have seen on booking.com. I thought booking.com selects only professional like host. It was a disappointment for me.
All these made our stay more stressful and not as fun as it could have been. The house itself is nice and very well equipped.
Being threatened to not get the keys when you arrive, despite calling an hour in advance, and having a host who seems to care mostly about our money rather than our wellbeing was an unpleasant experience.
(Read More)