I recently booked a one week stay in an apartment in London with a couple of my mates through…read morewww.roompaddy.com. I've not used a vacation rentals site before, so I was a bit nervous beforehand. The company explained everything very clearly and everything worked as it should. The apartment was fab and we ended up having a great break. Would recommend them to anyone looking for cheap accommodation in London

Earlier this month (Aug 2018) I took a business trip to Cambridge, UK and was in need of lodging…read more Back in June, anticipating difficulties in finding an easy to access location (and the summertime hike in pricing) I found a property marketed by this company at a site called Booking.com. Booking.com had been a dependable site to find lodging in the past, so I trusted the information published. At Booking I was introduced to a property in Cambridge managed by this company: Peymans. After reviewing the description, pricing and amenities (backed up by 53 pictures of the property) I decided to book it. I have to say that I am a frequent business traveler with lots of experience using Airbnb, and very comfortable in stepping away from the hotel scene into a more personable local solution. Much to my surprise, my experience with Peymans was going to negate all that optimism. I arrived at the property on the day agreed and was met by the crude reality of a "bait-and-switch" situation. It had not been visible to me (back in June) that the building had 4 units, and the 53 pictures were an assortment representing all the units. Mine turned out to be the rut of the litter. Delipidated, dingy carpets, impossible to negotiate (with a bag) steep staircase, a minimal bathroom separated from the sleeping area in a mid-tier level ... and no air conditioning. I know that A/C is not a typical amenity in the UK, but open windows with one fan moving hot air and high humidity made it unbearable. Nothing was how it had been marketed to me. The space had probably been built as a storage area on top of a building and was subsequently converted into a "dingy apartment" with an awkward rear entrance. None of this was visible in the 53 pictures I had seen. I did not take possession of the property and walked out. Now comes the fun part. Peymans reaction was awful. Customer service was not sympathetic, it was not easy to reach, and fought tooth-and-nail not to reimburse me at all. Even though I had to find alternate lodging at the last moment at a time when the town was crowded with visitors. Eventually, they conceded to give me back about 40%, without any explanation on how they had calculated that amount. I will never again book any property managed by this company, and I highly recommend anybody who comes across any of these properties to stay very far away. They did not exhibit any minimal decency when dealing with me and came across as ruthless exploiting a low-quality property being marketed with deceiving tactics.

As with the other reviewer, I was introduced to Peymans via booking.com. I wanted somewhere to stay…read morein Oxford and the choice was limited. Booking.com didn't have any reviews that day (although 5 have since appeared), but I was fairly desperate, so went ahead and booked. In a nutshell, I never got to the apartment, there was something dodgy including (but not restricted to): 1. being asked to give information about all the people staying, including passport number, age, email address and so on - basically the amount of info you'd need to commit identity theft or run credit checks (for a 2 night stay). Generally places just need (less) info from the person booking. 2. being told that my card (attached to an account that should have had more than enough money to cover the whole weekends spending, not just the accommodation) had been declined. Booking.com asked me to provide alternative payment. Peymans asked me to pay via their own system. Having checked on my bank account to make sure someone hadn't stolen my money, I decided this wasn't a trustworthy company, so I was certainly not going via their system. I suggested they try payment via the booking.com site again, they refused and said I had to pay up in 24 hours otherwise the accommodation would be cancelled. I waited for the cancellation notification to come through, but I got another request for payment. After a further response from me, I got the suggestion that I cancel the booking. It felt writing to a 10 year old. I reported all of this to booking.com, who did nothing, so I removed the cards they had on file. After responding to several more emails, by repeating the same thing in different ways, I decided to ignore them, having previously said that I had cancelled my account and card, so I had no way to pay. I had 3 emails on the date I was supposed to travel, all saying much the same. Finally, about an hour after the time I should have checked in, I got an email saying Peymans had agreed to cancel free of charge. Neither booking.com or Peymans have acknowledged the stress caused by telling me my card had been declined, or even said that it should not have been done. The experience was incredibly stressful and I ended up with a migraine and a flare-up of my auto-immune condition. I am wondering if I will use booking.com again - I've had many good experiences, but I will never book anything that is part of Peymans again. If you check with company's house Peymans is run by one 24 yr old director from a residential address in Cambridge. One can but wonder at the origins of the money to set up the business.

If you book a flat through Paris London Apartments, be prepared for your vacation to be ruined…read more The flat we booked was on Shaftesbury Ave in Covent Garden, London. Ten minutes after the check-in host left we noticed that both sets of keys she had given us wouldn't open the front door of the building. This was a problem because we couldn't leave the flat without knowing whether we could reenter. This was unacceptable from a standpoint of not only convenience but safety. And it was dinner time and we couldn't even leave to get food or explore London! We immediately called and texted the check-in host as well as the customer service number on the welcome materials and in our confirmation messages, but we received no reply whatsoever for two hours. I emailed the company owner and he told me to call a number through WhatsApp. I did so and he declined EVERY ONE OF MY CALLS. Finally he texted me and said he'd send someone to help us. When he did, this person had no replacement keys and struggled himself to open the door. He said that he'd heard this complaint a lot, and both he and his boss (whom we also spoke with) suggested that we try to get a refund. Otherwise they couldn't do anything more for us. There were other problems as well: 1) A non-functioning stove (the igniters for the gas burners were not working). 2) A television set that was unable to receive any channels. 3) Dirty carpeting throughout the apartment. 4) A large hole (about 10 inches across) in the hall ceiling. 5) A mattress in one of the bedrooms that seemed to have lost all padding over the springs. 6) The Wifi password in the welcoming materials was inaccurate. We left the apartment a few hours after checking in and found a hotel. The owner was not understanding and is refusing to do anything for us to compensate for his failure to provide a service we could reasonably expect. There's one more detail worth noting. After the deadline for cancelling and getting a refund passed, this company asked us for scanned photos of the passports of each guest staying at the flat. We thought this was odd but we complied. In retrospect, we've never had to do with this Airbnb or hotels in Europe or anywhere else. We're wondering why they needed this information. All in all, this was the worst customer service and lodging experience I've ever had in my life. This company clearly does not care about treating people decently, let alone providing a quality service.

I'll add to the chorus: I'm posting here because I did not have a chance to post the review under…read moreExpedia where I booked of which there were just two reviews which were decent. The location and the "Inside of the unit" was clean. The price per night was very reasonable for the location. I paid $339/night for my family of four for four nights. In comparison, I stayed at a regular traditional hotel the night before which was much,much nicer, great location but I paid $518/night. (You get what you pay for). What I didn't like: 1) run like a airbnb - You have to meet someone at a specific time to get into the apartment, 2) a charge of 30 british pounds was assessed to me. I checked in between 7-8pm. I paid since this was written in the agreement. I should have read closely of any charges. 3) you have to carry a set of 3 bulky keys to get in/out. 4) although pre-written (I did not read this closely) - they will charge a 400 british pounds damage deposit when you check in. This will be charged against the credit card originally used. In my case $503 usd went onto my credit card, my refund came back as $484 credit. So I lost $19 on the exchange. The worst thing is after 2.5 weeks I had to formally request this refund to get this deposit back. To my knowledge, this charge process is unusual even for a Airbnb! 5) I had to reboot their router 2-3 times because it would quit working. 6) Their TV hardly worked and was pixelated due to antennae. 7) The stairways were filthy, mouse traps, with old mail and dirt and just not vacuumed. I have pictures but I don't see how I can attach here. 8) The location is central and very noisy with wake ups at 3-5am for the trash guys to haul away all the beer bottle glass from the pubs (yeah really noisy). The unit had no AC and no fan - so you need to keep the window open with all the street noise. This experience hammers home I need to do more diligence when selecting a place. Not Happy - and one could say - I got what I paid for.

Great affordable apartment near the center of London. It was a good London vacation rental with…read moreaccess to local transport and the fabulous new Westfield Shopping Centre. Near High Street Kensington. You can book online. Really good if your planning an affordable holiday in London on a budget.

Beware anybody booking through Brighton holiday homes for this or next years marathon…read moreJust received a phone call cancelling my holiday I booked 10 months ago and paid in full Called me at 12pm offered me 2 unsuitable properties and gave me till 5pm to accept one and a lesson on their terms and conditions Totally unsympathetic to the nightmare situation they have left me in needing accommodation for 6 on marathon weekend with 2 months to go

We booked the Hamptons (9 Hampton Street, Brighton) for 8 friends and family in October 2014 for my…read morepartner's 40th birthday. We were looking for a high quality venue in Brighton to celebrate the special occasion. On arrival, our initial impressions of the property were that it was in reasonable condition and ok as a place to lay your head, but it was not as high quality as perhaps portrayed by the website photos. The house had clearly been cleaned, but smelt strongly of bleach throughout the living quarters which was not particularly inviting. For some reason a large glass panel, which was meant to be on top of the dining table, was leaning on the wall behind one of the sofas. The décor was tired with marked paintwork and the carpets upstairs were not clean. Unfortunately there was very heavy rain on our first night in Brighton and some of our party returned at about 10pm from dinner to discover that water had flooded some parts of the house. This was very distressing for us as we were just starting what was intended to be a special weekend. The water appeared to coming off an adjoining roof where the guttering had blocked and water was seeping through the wall into our house. Water found its way along the staircase, hallway and living room floor. It also found its way through the living room ceiling and was dripping into a big puddle on the dining table through a light fitting. Fortunately the bedrooms remained dry so we could sleep in the house but it was a stressful start to the holiday. The following morning, the house stank of damp. We phoned Brighton Holiday Homes first thing and they were both sympathetic and helpful. They offered us an alternative property and taxis to get to it. We were pre-warned that the property was about to go through renovations and unfortunately it was not suitable (more tired décor and suspected damp). We took it on ourselves to check out of the house and booked ourselves into a Brighton hotel at our own cost. We had a great time in Brighton, but there was a cloud left hanging over the holiday as to whether we would see our money back. We checked out of the house on Saturday and contacted BHH again on Monday to find out if we would get a refund. We were very pleased when we were contacted on Wednesday to be told we were getting a full refund, but we wished that this news had come a lot sooner. It is now three weeks since we left Brighton and I am pleased to say that we have received our refund for accommodation and taxis today. However, I have needed to chase BHH at regular intervals to find out when the money was going to be repaid - things were left too quiet and for too long. BHH's terms and conditions state they aim to repay after 3 days if they cause a cancellation and offer a full return of deposit after 14 days after check out. All I can say is that our experience was a long shot short of that. I can highly recommend the Premier Inn.

UHC is an easy way to travel, you can rent apartments in Salou and other villages of Costa Dorada…read morein Spain. These area is the best to travel in summertime because of the sunny weather.

Lovely stay at Lamington Serviced Apartment (117 Hammersmith Grove) on the top floor. Was with my…read morehusband and two teenaged kids ages 16 and 12. 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment on two levels. Enter into living/dining and kitchen level. Lower level had 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. Apartment was modern, nicely furnished and very clean. Restaurants and Tesco market were all within walking distance. Apartment was in a nice residential area away from all the hustle and bustle of the tourist attractions. Located in West Kensington area of London. Very close to the Hammersmith Train station (10 min walk away) which was convenient for catching the District and Picadilly train lines. Liked the location but please note that most attractions like the Tower of London, London Eye, Globe Theatre, British Museums and the City Center are about a 45 min train ride away. Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Victoria and Albert/Natural History/Science Museums are about 20 mins away. Was nice to have more space to spread out. Stayed here for 6 days so was happy to have more space than standard hotel room. Booking office was two doors down and they gladly printed vouchers and boarding passes for us. One star knocked off because the drying in our unit did not work. The office was nice enough to dry our clothes in their machine. We enjoyed our stay and would not hesitate to stay here again in the future.

Me and my other half where booked in for Friday the 21st of September but the night before…read more(Thursday) we received a email stating our trains have been cancelled due to the storm so we could not make our reservation. I called the hotel and asked if there was anyway we could get a refund if we where unable to attend they told me to call back the next day to talk to management or contact booking.com direct, I decided to wait and emailed the manger next day to be told we could not get a refund and we would be put down as a no show and we wouldn't be able to turn up on the Saturday/Sunday of our booking if we could find our way to London. We are very disappointed in the way we have been treated.