Thank you for your feedback and we are concerned to read that you felt misled by the pictures on Booking.com. We note you booked a two bedroom standard apartment at Beachcombers and we have taken the opportunity to check the images we use on the third party website where you booked. There are two apartments that we advertise in the category you booked and images of both units are used on the third party website.
You booked on 18th March 2022 and at the time you booked some of the images for this particular apartment were different and the reason is that the apartment in which you stayed has since had some refurbishment upgrades by the owners. This includes a new metal bed with expensive mattress, the sofa in the living room which has been reupholstered and other soft furnishing upgrades. Although it is unusual, it appears from your comments that you preferred the apartment prior to the refurbishment. Furnishings are obviously down to personal taste and we are sorry that the apartment was not to your taste.
Continuing this same point, the only alternative explanation we can offer which may explain why you felt “missold” by the images on the website where you booked, is if you were viewing other apartment types at Beachcombers. We have twelve different apartment types at this property and nineteen individual apartments which we currently let - no two are the same. The images for the apartment you booked are displayed on the third party website where you booked and they are accurate.
You have reported that the smoke extractor did not work. Following your comments we have tested it and can confirm it is fully functioning. Sometimes guests do not realise there is a separate switch for the extractor and if this is not on, then the extractor will not function. Since it doesn’t appear the extractor was switched on, it will explain why the smoke alarm kept going off. Our housekeeping team did note that you did a fair amount of cooking as it took some time to clean the property after you departed. When there is a lot of cooking and the extractor is not used, the smoke alarm does go off and this is what it is designed to do.
We were not aware that the clock is broken. Thank you for making us aware as we can now attend and fix it.
We do not accept that the apartment was “not very clean”. We have a team of housekeepers who pride themselves on their high standards and this can be verified by the feedback we receive. Based on 304 reviews on the website where you booked, the rating for cleanliness is 8.7 out of 10.
Before closing, we just wanted to acknowledge that we are aware that you had some parking issues as you arrived with multiple cars, however as advertised we only offer one space per apartment. We trust you were able to make use of the public car park down the road. Furthermore, we are sorry that we had to ask your friend with the dog to leave but Beachcombers is a strictly pet-free property and we do not accept pets.
Despite the above we do hope you enjoyed your stay in Watergate Bay and that you will wish to return. For future reference it is worth noting that to get the lowest price it’s always cheaper to book direct rather than via third party websites.
Yours sincerely
Tracy Kirton
