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Ripley Vacation Packages

Great location. Good access to university district and other parts of city. Close to Oxford Rd station. Bit of a mission to find the room.

Room could have been cleaner, especially after a delay in getting the room ready for check in. It had clearly not been hoovered and there were tufts of hair on the floor in the bathroom 😅 Room itself was a good size and bathroom is huge but there was a funky smell, which was the same smell as when you enter the building, so perhaps it’s a sewage issue? Odd to not have a hook for your towel by the shower, so would be a good addition. Fan was useful but not quite strong enough to cool down the room fully and the room can get a bit hot. Lastly, we weren’t aware that there would be no windows looking out, but fine for 1 or 2 nights.

Beautiful apartment, close to transportation and restaurants.

We were supposed to receive an email ahead of our arrival at the property, with check-in instructions. However, no such email was received. My wife and I arrived at the property at around 4p.m, after a long train journey from Thanet, but there was nobody there to greet us (as promised in the booking confirmation from Expedia). Nor was there an obvious front desk at the building. We tried several times to contact the property owner, but each time, the connection was cut-off after a few rings. Eventually, we found some cleaners and we enquired about check-in, but they were unable to help us. One of the cleaners escorted us to the on-site office, but it was locked, and there was no external bell or buzzer to call for attention. The cleaner asked us to wait, whilst he sought help, and he returned with a man who we believe was the building caretaker or manager. We showed him our booking confirmation, but he shook his head and informed us that the apartments were residential, and that sub-letting was illegal. He also tried to contact the apartment owner without success. Eventually, we were left with no option but to seek alternative accommodation. The owner has since disputed the caretaker's claim about sub-letting, and on that basis ,he refused to refund our money. But he hasn't explained why we were. not emailed any check-in instructions, not why he was not onsite to give us access to the building. We have reported the matter to Expedia, and they have promised to deal with it.