The apartment was pretty and in a good location, but:
1) For international guests it's really inconvenient to have to pay by bank transfer rather than card. It added an extra cost to the price of the stay because of bank fees. Also, the substantial deposit was only accepted in cash. It made us really nervous to hand over this much cash, and it also upped the overall costs because of the exchange fees. The owner should consider taking card to make it more convenient.
2) We were a bit surprised at the steep cleaning fee - I didn't think the ad mentioned anything. When it was requested, I looked back at the ad, and the fee is not included in the listing of mandatory costs. It is, however, included at the bottom of the 'house rules' description, the only thing on the page not translated in English. So English-speaking guests should be aware of this. Also, for a place with such a high cleaning fee, I would have expected it to be cleaner, but walking around barefoot blackened your feet and the shower head was so calcified it didn't work properly.
3) A lot of the things we would have expected to be included in a self catering apartment weren't there. There were no towels when we arrived and took some from the hall cupboard, which the owner later chastised us for. There was also no toilet paper, so our first hour in Avignon was spent running around trying to find an open Carrefour on a Sunday.
4) We came to Avignon from the wedding of a friend. When we were there, we found that a few friends needed a place to stay in Avignon for a night. Since the apartment said it could accommodate the number and, when we checked the website quote, it was the same regardless of number of guests, we invited them along. We didn't hide this fact, and when we arrived, the owner's lovely parents showed us the pull-out couch. The night before we had to leave, the owner texted my husband, telling him that, because we had friends, she would be taking a large amount out of our deposit. This was frustrating. We were fine paying a nominal additional charge, but the amount requested to stay one night on a pull-out sofa was really steep, and the owner had no interest in negotiating. Since she had our money, there was little we could do.
So, between transfer fees, an unexpected cleaning fee, and an arbitrarily large amount off our deposit, the stay cost us at a lot more than we were expecting. Avignon is amazing, and we'd love to return, but we won't be staying here.
