Brand New Flat with AC 5-Min Walk to Town Centre - Pass the Keys

We absolutely loved our stay at this property. It was beautiful, and we couldn’t have asked for a better location. The staff and team were incredibly helpful throughout our visit, which made the experience even more enjoyable.

The hosts' communication is absolutely first class. I had a query about the size of the parking space just before we set off and they went very well above and beyond to answer it. The flat looks quite fancy when you first open the door. The beds are comfy (they're still pretty new, so they ought to be) and the bathrooms are like what you're expect in a typical 4-star hotel.

THERE'S NO AIR-CON IN THE BEDROOMS. This may come as a surprise if you haven't dug down into the small print. There's a single unit in the lounge and it's a dirt-cheap Electriq thing which doesn't come close to cooling the whole flat. Sleeping with the windows open is a non-starter as you're located on a busy road which sees traffic throughout the night. Keeping with the el cheapo theme, they've spent the bare minimum on stocking the kitchen with stuff from the likes of Swan, Scoville, Cookworks and Carnaby - fair enough, I guess, when people would just nick anything worth having, but it doesn't feel in any way in keeping with the high price. Talking of which, the company uses a scam app called Truvi which purports to be checking your ID but is really just rinsing you for extra money (this is also buried in the small print). And the price includes a cleaning fee of almost £100 but, while the flat was generally in a good state, I had to wash several items of cookware before using them. There were spillage stains on the skirting boards and when we were getting ready to leave, I found a previous tenant's Kinder wrapper stuck to the floor under one of the beds. The parking space is tiny and very tight – I was in a Nissan Qashqai and had to do a 7-point manoeuvre to get into it each time I arrived. And the building is in what feels like a dodgy part of town; several times, we saw groups of men hanging around outside the main door, and I don't think a woman on her own would feel safe coming and going after dark. Overall, I didn't feel that the property's listing was particularly honest and, while it's by no means bad, it had wall-to-wall 10s in its reviews when I booked, which seems inexplicable and more than a little suspect.