All reviews of Robin Brock
Review about: Oliver's Travels
Holidfay
Review Great Easton Manor Dunmow U.K. July 9 to July 12 .. 4 nights
Booked through Oliver’s Travels London U.K.
Great Looking property advertised in a slick A.I. website by Oliver ‘s Travels. What’s not to like it has lots visual sizzle but unfortunately not lots of steak.
I originally booked and paid for 5 nights but weeks after I had paid Olivers they cancelled the booking and offered now only 4 nights
Sorry booking error on their part but by then I had already purchased event tickets for several days around Great Easton for the days after our arrival . I accepted the 4 night offered by Olivers because some of our family were already booked flying in from Germany on those dates and I thought with Olivers help I would find some accommodation near Great Easton and while without an arrival day it would be hectic but it was doable.
Unfortunately Olivers was of no help ... I booked a hotel an hour away... and a week later Oliver’s advised the owner of Great Easton would not offer a full day refund from 5 nights to 4 nights so instead of a 20 % reduction in cost for the original 5 nights I was offered 70 % of a full day cost. I should have walked as it only got worse but I was boxed in because of flights and event tickets .
On arrival day I asked for the dinner caters to be allowed to arrive at the Manor by 3 :00 pm instead of 4:00pm and for our family to arrive after 5:00 pm as now our arrival day because of the 4 nights from 5 nights and event tickets would be time constrained. Olivers advised for 100 GBP payable in advance the owner would have someone available for us. I declined to be extorted again , shifted the caterers to after 6:00pm and left our event early to arrive per our contract after 4: 00 pm. Guess what they were not ready , the bed room towels were still in the wash.
After a perfunctory introduction to Great Easton Manor by the property assistant and on arrival of our caterers we discovered while the ... worked somewhat the oven was so badly greased over the caterers were afraid they might start a fire if they turned it on . The Aga ... quit the next day ... like the rest of the kitchen cooking area was covered in grease that the caterers would not use and thank goodness the micro wave worked or dinner would have been stone cold. Oh as night came on we also found there were no and I mean no dish drying towels , one dull carving knife but no other knifes . And the pool was too cloudy to use , some of the bedrooms while looking nice had no closets to hang clothes ... the owner had them locked up ... and in the morning , not a hair dryer in the entire house and oh when one of my family used the shower in their en suite room the water poured like a water fall through the living room ceiling below.
Honestly I am not making any of this up , it was a classic internet Air BnB nightmare.
I contacted Olivers in the morning as the owner would not give permission to Olivers to give us his contact information or even the contact info for his property assistant . When Olivers realized the condition of the property and my anger they give us the contact information.
Now the owner and Olivers Travels were in a pickle , the property because it was not ready for occupants solutions had to occur immediately and they did .
Over the next two days the property assistant spent 3 hours cleaning the oven , told us with some distain that the dish towels were in the outer annex building ... why they would not be in the only kitchen in the house still baffles my brain ... The property assistant delivered a new boxed hair dryer and some kitchen knives . The pool maintenance man chlorine shocked the pool and told us to wait for a day before using it. The Aga was re started but never came up to any temperature other than cold and remained like that with its oily smell right up until we left . Oh the leaking shower the plumber and the owner suggested to use another shower as to fix it would create a dreadful mess of opened walls etc.
The owner asked after discussing all of these problems asked if there was anything we liked about the property .
So here is my review . This is a great property but it is so poorly maintained that the slick photo website Is a border line fraud. The fact that the owner doesn’t understand that timely maintenance or indeed maintenance at all and attention to hospitality details would make this an incredible property and easily offer a return on invested capital in this property rental business.
However since this property is and has been up for sale for quite a while it is clear to me this is a property flipper that has been caught without a secure seat in the game of property musical chairs.
You can dismiss this review if you want but be aware. As for Olivers Travels I expect a branded travel company would vet the properties it advertises so what happened here ?
I am on my own I might just as well have booked with Air BnB.