We booked and paid the non-refundable price and told the property manager that we would be celebrating my mother’s 70th birthday. We also paid a large amount extra for late checkout which, at other nearby venues, has been free. We later informed them of the exact number of people attending (adults and a 3-4 babies) for about 3-4 hours on Sat afternoon. At this point the property manager revealed they’d be charging another large extra amount per person (babies would also be charged) for their visit because he is ‘running a business’. We explained that we would be using our own cutlery, that it was a dry event and that babies do not cause wear and tear to a property.
It feels like we were being charged a premium for a professional, luxury experience, however, the fridge and some of the kitchen cupboards were dirty. It said it had salt and pepper - these were broken and empty. The owner came around to ask for the champagne glasses as he had been told it was a dry event - which was awkward.
The owner didn’t want us to ruin the driveway as it had been raining. Therefore, we had to use the back driveway, which meant our guests all got lost as there is no signage or view of the house from the back. This meant one of us had to wait by the back gate and missed half of my mum’s birthday.
The bedrooms were very cold and there were not enough indoor heaters.
Overall, we definitely felt we had been overcharged and the property under-delivered. There are much better value properties nearby.