John

6 months ago

Location is decent for access to Newcastle and Northumberland. Flat is spacious and would be good for big groups. Free on-street parking outside.

We had to chase the host for the key code after the check-in time.

Upon entering, all of the furniture was piled onto the beds in each room. The flat wasn't the cleanest, with cobwebs on lots of the walls, and some of the bedsheets were stained. The mattresses were a bit tired.

We stayed 3 weeks and during our stay the boiler started leaking. We kept it turned off for as much as possible to ensure it didn't get worse, but the host never replied to the message I sent them about it via Booking.com, which isn't ideal for early November.

Hayley

9 months ago

A lovely house, although it could do with some cosmetic updates and the noisy road and barking dog all night it was a lovely central area to stay for a family wedding

Tony

9 months ago

The actual property itself was nice. Big and spacious. The beds were quite uncomfortable and they definitely need to invest in new pillows but overall for the price the property itself was good and worth the value

Host and stay are an awful company to stay with. The lock box to the house was covered in mould and was difficult to open. My partner was waiting outside the property for nearly an hour prior to me arriving as she was unable to get into the lock box even though the code was right. Host and stay told me they would message me with the instructions to get in a day prior to attending the property although this message didn’t come through until I rang them at 4pm on the day of arrival.

They also leave out hidden charges of the price of the property. They make you pay a mandatory fee when you check in…it is £40 deposit (which their terms state will be returned minus a £12 admin fee then tell you afterward that it is a waiver and not a deposit and it is non refundable). The other option you have is to pay £350 refundable deposit which takes 2 weeks to get back.

All in all the property was nice awful hosting company and would never use again! Would recommend looking elsewhere.

Andy

1 year ago

Very disappointed to find no heating or hot water on arrival late Sunday.
Took multiple calls and a whole day to get an engineer to attend at 5pm Monday.
Calls seemed to go through to USA as a different American answered each time we called.
American corporations owning multiple homes and subbing out the maintenance isn’t what I expect from Airbnb.

Dee

1 year ago

Excellent accommodation, a great home from home stay for our family of 5, whilst visiting family for x3 weeks over Christmas from overseas.
Everything as described plus more
Thank you from
The Potts Family
Perth, Australia

Garry

1 year ago

4 separate bedrooms means that our children can each have their own room and we get the master bedroom. The lounge was a good size for the family to get together. The property is in a convenient location for our needs.

There were a few minor issues with some of the appliances, though it didn't particularly affect this visit but might have done on a longer stay. Whilst there are no issues with the surrounding area, it's not the greatest views out of the windows.

Nick

1 year ago

Dirty bedding and unresponsive host

David

1 year ago

Lots of restaurants and takeouts within walking distance. Close to bus stops. Host was very responsive to our questions. Would stay again. Thanks

Sean

1 year ago

Great location near the family we were visiting. Kitchen well stocked with cutlery and crockery. Well kitted out.

Toilet was loose to the floor, beds were not overly comfortable

Elizabeth

1 year ago

Perfect place little bit noisy in front bedroom with traffic but other than that beautiful

Karen

1 year ago

The 4 bedrooms and loft space was great

No outside space which was not mentioned. No garden area

Megan

1 year ago

The house was nice and spacious as we had four kids

That check out on Saturday was 10am - I didn’t think we’d have to wake up and leave straight away. Our flight was at midnight so we had a long day of trying to do things with the kids.

Paul

1 year ago

For a family of 3 or was very good, but only had one bathroom so if multiple families wanted to stay which is possible with the number of rooms, that might be an issue

Needs blackout curtains/blinds in the non attic rooms, very bright in the morning. Bring an eye mask

Alison

1 year ago

It was easy to get to and easy walking distance to the convenience store and Holywell where I had family staying. Everything we needed was provided in the house and it was very comfortable.

We couldnt find fault with anything :)

Marc

2 years ago

The place was clean and what we expected

Nothing

Thomas

2 years ago

The property was accurately described, came with all required utensils and the internet connection was fast and reliable.

Richard

2 years ago

A really spacious, clean and well furnished apartment. Perfect for our trip with 3 generations of the family.

Faye

3 years ago

Nice clean, large house, good location for exploring. Only niggle is the kitchen could do with slightly more cutlery, plates etc as it slept six of us but was slightly short on crockery and no oven gloves

Kevin

3 years ago

Good parking, nice apartment.
There was a minor issue with a leaking pipe that a neighbour complained about.
This was sorted very quickly by the landlord.

Karathanassi

3 years ago

Only 1 bathroom for 4 bedrooms

David

3 years ago

great

Caitlin

3 years ago

Wonderful place and hosts

Ellie

3 years ago

Quite nice handy location as a base to travel the coast.

David

3 years ago

Nice base for exploring Northumberland

Mandy

3 years ago

Very clean place which is a maisonette on the top level along a terraced street with parking right outside. Great base for exploring Northumberland with takeaways and shops nearby.

Eira

3 years ago

Lovely, modern flat in good location.

Laura

3 years ago

Good location, needs a bit of updating.
Clean and good for what we needed.

Francesca

3 years ago

Very disappointing does not cover it.

We paid over £750 for 4 nights and our stay was less than adequate. Not suitable for a family stay - more suited for a stag do or hen party. Falsely advertised as being a house; this is in fact a FLAT located on the first floor, with a loft conversion. Located on a noisy road, with lots of foot and car traffic and subsequent noise pollution. Very dangerous parking situation, trying to emerge onto a main road with cars approaching at 30-40mph whilst obscured by other parked cars meant you were emerging blind. Internal photographs do not marry up with exterior. It is outdated, shabby and dilapidated.

Safety
The FLAT was positioned on the first floor and the windows had no restrictors on them, meaning it was dangerous for use around young children. They opened wide enough for a child or an adult to climb out of, with concrete below and I found myself continuously checking in on my child after I had put them to bed. In addition to this, there were no plug covers, no stair gates (with 3 flights of stairs to warn children away from, one of which has no hand rail) and laundry detergent and dishwasher tablets were left in Childrens reach. Covers missing from bathroom recess lighting, which is a potential hazard given the rooms purpose. This property is clearly not set up with families in mind.

Customer service
I found the customer service to be corporate and impersonal - this property is run by a company rather than an individual host, which I would not mind, if any care or effort was put into making our stay pleasant. However, this was not the case. The messages were standardised and impersonal. Upon raising an issue around lightbulbs not being changed, I got no apology and no offer to rectify this during our stay. I had offered to do this myself, but reflected that there was no way I could change it myself due to the height of the ceilings. No basics were provided such as milk or butter, which I have always found to be standard products provided. Only 2 toilet rolls were supplied for a party of 6, which was insufficient. After 6 hours of driving, we were desperate for a cup of tea and the loo and had to go to the shop to get these basic items. This was not the warm welcome I had expected.

Cleanliness
We experienced significant issues around cleanliness and we were greeted instantly by the smell of cigarette smoke which for non smokers, was absolutely foul. I would never choose to stay somewhere that allowed smoking. I was not made aware prior to booking or our stay that this would be the case. Throughout the week, despite our best efforts, we could still smell it.
The kitchen was inadequately cleaned and had crumbs over the counter tops which had pooled where the hob meets the counter top. The sink was covered in water marks and soap scum on the draining board and the oven had greasy pans in it. The soft furnishings in the living room (if you can call them that) were stained with what is probably body fluids, as it was primarily on the seat cushions. On the living room walls were stains that resembled a projectile vomiting incident and it was evident that this has not been adequately cleaned and painted. There are countless scratch marks and hand prints on the walls throughout, most unpleasant being in the bedrooms where there are suspiciously placed hand prints above the headboards and unpleasant looking marks on the wall, that could be anything. The sofa cup holder has a build up of residue that illustrates the neglect this property has suffered. Most surfaces had dust on them and the bath has a telling line of black mould around the sealant, that is coupled with soap scum and black mould on the glass shower screen. This was not conducive to a relaxing bath time experience and I felt unclean when washing there. The host has a responsibility to ensure basic hygiene practices are adhered to and we have a right as paying guests to stay somewhere that is clean - especially when we’ve paid over £750 for 4 nights, including a £70 cleaning fee. I have paid less, for a much better property and a much higher standard of hygiene.

Sleep quality
The curtains were insufficient in length and did not block the light out of my child’s bedroom when they were trying to go to sleep. The blinds were what you would expect in an outdated commercial property, not a holiday let, and they did not block any light out. We had to improve with the half of a blanket we were provided with to try and create adequate sleeping conditions for our child. In addition to this, the mattresses were springy and hard. We have all woken up with headaches, neck aches and back aches, and what’s worse is that they were dirty and had poorly fitted mattress protectors (which we saw first hand when we were told we had to strip the beds for the cleaners we had paid). The pillows were lumpy and had clearly been overused, for cheap, synthetically filled pillows. None of us slept well. This is a basic of hospitality.

Low standards
The photos for the property are incredibly misleading. While it photographs well enough to lure you in, the furniture is poor quality, uncomfortable and not fit for purpose. The sofa was uncomfortable and cheap looking. It was akin to sitting on a bus seat, though that is probably too generous a description. A quick google search revealed our suspicions that it was not from a reputable merchant but in fact a £260 budget buy from Amazon, and it was not value for money. I hope no body ever has the misfortune of sleeping on this, because they may need physio afterwards.

Jen

3 years ago

This property suited our needs perfectly. The kids were delighted with a room each and the wifi 😀. We were delighted with the cleanliness, the location so close to Whitley Bay, easy parking and the high standard of communication both before and during our stay. Thank you!

Willem

3 years ago

Nice house

Jonathan

4 years ago

The property was clean, modern and well-presented. Advertising details were true to reality. It's on a main road and so there was a fair bit of traffic noise, especially in the loft bedroom, but we got used to it. A pleasant stay

Stephen

4 years ago

Took us a bit to get used to layout of house, but overall was ideal for what we where looking for.

Great hosts & will book again

Karen

4 years ago

The location was good, plenty of parking in the street. The rooms were all a good size but we were very disappointed at the lack of dedicated workplace as advertised, as this was one of our criteria when searching.

George

4 years ago

Great local takeaways and restaurants

Maxine

4 years ago

Great communication, thanks

Tammy

4 years ago

Fantastic stay and Andrew was a wonderful host. Will use Stays accommodation again. The property was perfect and had everything we needed. Andrew booked us in same day and was very helpful. We would recommend to everyone