Response on behalf of the owner; We have been letting out our family home to the public to enjoy for holidays for over 7 years now and very rarely do we ever get a complaint about cleanliness nor do many guests leave it in such a mess so you can imagine this has been quite upsetting. We are equally upset about the points you have raised. The house has an average of 600+ guests a year (adults/children) so approximately 4800 people have stayed in our house over the last 7.5 years so there is understandably going to be general wear and tear, more than your average household.
As you know, it is a big house and we only get access to it one day a week for 6 hours so it is very difficult for us to be aware of absolutely everything, even down to the last light bulb. We cannot get in to replace cracked tiles etc. unless the house is empty for a considerable amount of time. However, I can assure you the house is always cleaned to a high standard and we always do our very best for our guests to make sure the house is clean, comfortable and has everything they would need.
We were informed roughly 8pm that the heating was not working, which my husband attended straight away and got it working for you. We had oil delivered first thing in the morning so this was not 30 hours. We also provided an extra basket of logs. We were very disappointed however when we entered the house on your departure to find the heating on full blast and many windows open! This unnecessary use is likely the reason we ran out of oil when we least expected to, as this has never happened before.
Unfortunately, the trampoline net was damaged in the recent stormy weather/high winds and would be more dangerous to leave it on so thought it best to remove this. This does not mean the children could not still enjoy the play park though.
You will have seen the sign on the air hockey table saying we were aware of the damage caused by guests leaning on it and cannot source replacements. My husband spoke to you about this and said you understood. We have now decided to remove it completely from the games room. There is nothing wrong with pool table or foosball table, in fact not even sure how it can throw balls out?
Many of your issues could have easily been resolved quickly if you had just let us know. Obviously, you have to expect wear and tear in a house that is used by so many people. Many of which love the house and return time and time again. We still do not feel that we deserved for the house to be left in such a mess, this was definitely not how you found it. We had to pull in another cleaner and myself to help our cleaners get the house ready for 4pm for the next guests, which we have never had to do before.
We are sorry for this outcome and sorry if you did not enjoy the house, but hope you can understand why we were upset. This was once our family home that my husband built so it can be upsetting for us to see it this way, hence the reason we are moving back in next year.
