4 years ago
The cleanliness of this apartment was a huge let down to be honest. Which was a disappointment.
The apartment itself is a really nice and convenient place to stay. Aldi is a stones throw away and the Park and River is on the doorstep. However, the pictures in the advertisement are not that of what the apartment actually looks like now. The ad pictures need updating if you want to really know what condition this flat is in currently. It is in need of a bit of modernisation, a good deep clean and some decorating.
The balcony doors/frames/windows - Absolutely filthy! Finger prints, food smeared on the windows and the wooden frames, hand prints, and on the outside was just dirt and grime from everyday weathered ailments and birds. A lot of spider webs, with quite a few large spiders running around. Not great if you have a fear of spiders/creepy crawlies.
Opening the door onto the balcony was a shock! The balcony rails were very dirty, covered in damp algae type mould and grime. Unsightly cigarette butts in one corner. The balcony floor was covered in bird droppings, green algae moss and had a very pungent smell of urine!
There were 2 resident pigeons living in the top of the balcony railings. I assume the smell was a combination of pigeons, their droppings and a men's urinals.
When having the door open, the smell of urine wafted into the flat. It made having the door/s open very unpleasant. Especially as it was very warm and the flat was uncomfortably warm with the doors closed. There is only one other window in the flat, which is in the bedroom. This makes the balcony, the main source of ventilation/fresh air.
The living area is a big and open space with a very big and comfortable sofa bed, which opens up into a king size bed. The sofa had a couple of white stains on the seating area which the cleaner did remove when she come back to carry out the corrections. The cushions were rather worn and did smell of other people. The white and grey fluffy throw on the sofa smelt very loved.
The dining table was clean and perfect for a family to sit and eat together.
Carpet and rugs were clean and fluffy.
In the kitchen everything looked clean on the surface but when looking through the draws and cupboards, I was disappointed to see that the cutlery and the utensils were all really very dirty. The inside of the cupboards were dirty and everything looked like it had been unkempt for quite sometime. There was one cracked glass amongst the cutlery which stood right at the front of the cupboard and clearly showed the crack? Another sign that the contents of the cupboards had not been checked. The other glasses and cups were very dirty. This left me feeling very uncomfortable. And immediately I wanted to clean and wash everything before using for myself and my children. Which in turn, meant on arrival I spent a good chunk of my time cleaning and washing cutlery and utensils before wanting to use them. It was at this point that I contacted the host. I took pictures of everything that was dirty and all signs of marks, just to ensure that I would not be held responsible for any of these signs of damage and also because I felt that arriving at the apartment in this state left me wondering if the host was actually aware of how the cleaning company standards were not up to scratch.
I did also clean the balcony floor myself and clean the balcony doors, frames and windows because
a) my kids were walking on bird droppings and bringing it all in to the flat and
b) because I couldn't see out of the windows, which made me feel very depressed.
The bathroom was an absolute let down I'm afraid. The bath tub was covered in unsightly brown marks, mould and there was a long crack on the side panel, which pinched my knee as I leant in to turn the bath taps on. The marks were explained in the greeting message on the day of arrival. The host explained that they'll be renewing the bath in due course. However, this all being explained once we'd already arrived was not, in my opinion, very helpful because I'd already paid for the stay! And wasn’t aware of the condition of the bathtub. The bathroom smelt strongly of damp and mould and there were holes in the walls where things had either been removed or broken? Unfortunately, this was a huge let down for me as personal hygiene is top of my priority list and having a clean and well-equipped bathroom is hugely important for myself and my children. There was absolutely no where to hang any towels or coats?
When booking this apartment, it was hard to differentiate between the reviews for which review was for which property. Most of the reviews were complementary and satisfactory hence my booking this apartment in Canterbury. When revisiting the site on my return home, I notice that if you click on the property you are Interested in, then you can see all reviews for that property alone.
After sending photos of all these issues to the host. She apologised and promptly got the cleaning company to return and make the corrections. However, the cleaner explained that they don't clean the outside, i.e the balcony area. Also, that they don't clean the windows? Once the cleaner had left, we returned back to the flat and I was a disappointed to see that the windows were still mucky and the frames still had smeared food marks on. The cleaner had removed the suspect white stains on the sofa. However, she had simply put back all the washing up that I had already done myself and didn't actually clean the rest of the cutlery or the cupboards.
The Bedroom was a