Dirty, stinking apartment that was covered in mould, coated in dust and stank of sweat.
When we arrived at the apartment building and entered the ground floor, we were met with a foul odour of sweat and mould, wondering where the smell was coming from we soon had our answer. Opening the door to apartment 9 was like walking into a wall of stink. Imagine an old, sweaty locker room that's been kept at sauna temperatures.
Things rapidly went downhill from here, the bathroom and en-suite were covered in black mould, the floor was black with dirt, the bath was broken in the main bathroom and the sink was broken in the en-suite.
The kitchen was covered in grease, dirt and mouldy residues of food, the fridge freezer was covered in mould and the oven looked like it had never been cleaned, we immediately decided we wouldn’t be cooking here for fear of our health.
In the bedrooms we were met with the same putrid smell of mould and sweat plus urine, the bed sheets had not been cleaned and were covered in stains. The duvet, pillows and mattresses were covered in stains and looked like they had not been replaced in years.
Everything in the apartment had a coating of dust, under the beds and cabinets looked like they had never been cleaned there was so much dirt and dust, every one of the floors was coated in black dirt.
We contacted Cornwalls Cottages to discuss the problems, who immediately wiped their hands of the situation, saying that it’s nothing to do with them, and gave us the name and mobile number of the owner. So I contacted the owner, itemising all the problems and the response I received was “This is clearly not one of my apartments”, when clarifying the address I was told “can’t be”. After an hour the owner sent me: “Send pics if everything you have complained about, I don’t believe you, it’s always amazing, pictures.”
I sent them a few pictures showing just how dirty the place was and the mould in the bathrooms, and they responded with “It isn’t I’ve been in touch with the cleaners and there was no smell. May I surgery as it’s apparently very muggy there that the smell is something else and not the apartment as it has never ever smelt at all ever. Its always spotless and the pillows are new unless someone last week made them dirty”
The owner refused to speak to us on the matter further. And I contacted booking to help with the situation, they asked for pictures showing how bad things were and immediately provided us with money to buy new duvets and pillows as the ones in the apartment were so disgusting.
The next day we received an email from Cornwalls Cottages saying that we were lying about the state of the apartment, as the “owner has inspected it herself today”, despite nobody visiting the apartment at all that day. They gave booking a different story, stating that a cleaner had been sent and performed a deep clean.
Our holiday was ruined by an apartment that was barely usable, Cornwalls Cottages completely wiped their hands of their legal obligations