8/10 Good
tim l.
17 Aug 2022
Liked: Cleanliness
An Expensive holiday got more expensive
Firstly, and on the good side, this property is beautiful - much better than the photographs suggest - the rooms are large, recently refurbished and well equipped.
I turned 65 this year and so I booked this holiday to take my wife and all our children, their partners and my grandchildren away for the 'holiday of a lifetime' to recapture the fun we had in the Biscarrosse area when the children were small.
This house ticks all the boxes and the pool is fabulous. The snags came with communication. The property is managed locally by Biscarrosse Concierge who met our party at the property for check in. My party was delayed by road closures and the concierge wanted to get away so took one of our party (my daughter, who doesn't speak French...) around the property to explain how everything worked, including the electrically operated cover for the swimming pool. This has two functions - to protect young children from falling into the pool if unattended and to insulate the pool to keep the heat in the water.
As the concierge spoke only french and my daughter largely none, only shreds of the process were understood. The concierge left the 'welcome pack' which consisted of 6 inkjet printed sheets of A4 with some brief instructions in French, which we were able to translate, plus some additional notes scribbled in unintelligible handwriting, which we weren't.
The upshot is that through lack of understanding on my part, I attempted to retract the pool cover having forgotten to undo the latches and the system failed. Rather than fail 'safe', an electronic component was blown and we lost the use of the pool for 3 days whilst this was rectified. Whilst clearly my fault, the (ironically English) property owner claimed the maximum 2,000 Euros against my credit card to cover the damage.
Having not rented a property like this before I took out Vrbo's optional Accidental Damage Cover, expecting this to limit my exposure but the process of calling their customer service team in the Caribbean and then trying to call the insurance company in the USA has been enough to put me off using Vrbo again.
To any future renters of this property I would advise that you:
(a) Speak French
(b) Watch your kids and
(c) Don't deploy the pool cover!
tim l.
Stayed 9 nights in Aug 2022