After reserving and paying in full several months before the trip, there were a few red flags that signaled this rental was going to be a problem, but nothing would have prepared us for what we found. First, the property was still listed as available for the reserved dates on other sites up until a few weeks before the trip, when I brought it to the attention of the owner; there was no communication from the owner for the entire time leading up to check-in; and even on the day of check-in, the specific address and check-in instructions were not provided, nor did the owner respond to messages on the platform or by phone, necessitating a call to the US from Europe to open a case. Then, after this information was finally provided, not only did first-arriving family members struggle to find the address as it was given, but they also had to try to reach the owner multiple times to be granted entry at the 2 locked gates. They arrived to find no towels and to be told that the listing didn't include them (although the VRBO listing did in fact include them). The windows leaked, so items left near a closed window were drenched during a rainstorm. And when it was time to leave, the owner did not respond to questions about checking out, and the only way out of the property was to use the keyfob to open the gates, requiring a special trip back to the property to hand the keys off to someone the owner dispatched to collect them. The house was cold, and 2 of the guests left to find a hotel.
