“When we arrived at the cottage the cot did not have a mattress.”
It was a travel cot/play-pen with only the base to sleep on - wooden planks covered by a piece of polyester material. Whilst this might be fine for an older baby/toddler for one night this is entirely unacceptable for an 8 month old baby for a week. Upon asking the owner if there was a mattress and saying it was not appropriate for a baby to sleep in a cot without one, we were told that they have never had a complaint before and we would need to buy a mattress if we wanted one. We bought our ...
It was a travel cot/play-pen with only the base to sleep on - wooden planks covered by a piece of polyester material. Whilst this might be fine for an older baby/toddler for one night this is entirely unacceptable for an 8 month old baby for a week. Upon asking the owner if there was a mattress and saying it was not appropriate for a baby to sleep in a cot without one, we were told that they have never had a complaint before and we would need to buy a mattress if we wanted one. We bought our own mattress the next day. Clearly not something anyone would expect to do when renting a cottage that catered for babies. Whilst initially when we arrived the condition of the property seemed good, after a day it became clear this was not the case. Unfortunately as we were organising a friend's wedding and looking after a baby we had no time to chase the owner. The floors, settees, chairs and cushions were covered in dog hair and when our baby played on the floor she and her toys would be covered in dog hair and her clothes were black. When her toys rolled under the settee and fridge they came out filthy covered in clumps of dust and dirt. The hoover did not work so we were unable to get the hair and dirt up. We had not broken anything, indicating the floor had not been cleaned properly from a previous stay. The owner was very friendly when we first arrived but after the initial complaint about no mattress, despite being on site every day, avoided us the entire week. When my mother informed her about the dirt and the glass on the floor at the end of the stay she just said nonchalantly, 'oh, right' and nothing else. The lack of apology for the glass on the floor, cleanliness and no mattress demonstrates at best disinterest and at worst disregard for the safety of guests. It also indicates the owner's failure to take responsibility for the condition of the property. This could have all been sorted easily with proper equipment, a good clean and an apology. Guests' welfare is clearly not a priority. We would not recommend staying here and will not be staying at a property of the same owner.