Alliance House 203

Good location, nice property

The fact that I had to enter credit card details into an unknown 3rd party site as a holding deposit before the code for the keys could be released. I have always only paid booking.com for previous stays and the fact that I started receiving text and emails from a 3rd party site claiming to be acting on behalf of booking.com was alarming. While trying to resolve over the phone while driving and talking to a booking.com agent (very hostile and argumentative) I ended up driving into a bus lane which resulted in a fine. All could have been avoided if booking.com and host didn't over complicate matters by charging for two different elements over two different platforms. Puts a sour experience and I will not be making use of Booking.com again.

Lovely space, much better value for money than a hotel.

The windows were left open before we arrived - it was freezing! Charged for a £150 deposit during your stay. Takes a while to get refunded.

Lots of space & clean. easy to get keys - would suggest sending all information on one email/message instead of multiples. Bed was comfortable and the whole apartment was bright.

Not being able to get through the front door on 2 occasions, due to a mechanical fault - It would have been nice to be told about this prior to my arrival. I only managed to get in both times as a tenant was leaving. Exiting wasn't easy either. Also there should be info on a holding deposit of £150 prior to agreement. I was only informed of this once the booking was confirmed. A follow up email with rules on noise etc was pretty distasteful, again, one email would suffice or a PDF attachment.

The position in the city was excellent, the bed was very comfortable, the linen was good quality and clean.

The flat was very dusty, the cutlery was filthy as were the saucepans. The emails sent with supposed links to instructions were impossible to access. There were no instructions on how to use the combination oven/microwave which was very unusual and an anathema to me. The only way I was able to use the oven was by getting instructions from you tube. the same applied to the dishwasher. The wall fires had to be switched off in the evening because they were so noisy. The whole experience with having to keep trying to get communication from the company was extremely stressful and ruined our short break. The flat it self is ideal for a short break but the management is appalling.