MY Getaways — Local services in Great Britain

We never actually got to stay at the accommodation this time around (November 2022). We had already stayed with this corporate host at the same property in the month before (October 2022) and no deposit was requested then and we had an enjoyable experience (which is why we booked again). On the first stay, we had been great guests, caused no damage whatsoever and the host gave us a positive review. However the second booking was the worst one we’ve ever had through AirBnb.

When we booked through Airbnb there was no mention of any security deposit in the property listing. I, personally, read the entire listing thoroughly. In the listing, the only “Additional costs” were for late check out, pet fee, cot fee and for not returning keys. We have a screenshot to prove this.

We also have the receipt from Airbnb too which clearly shows the cost of the booking and again NO security deposit is mentioned on the receipt.

The receipt clearly states that: “Airbnb Payments is a limited payment collection agent of your Host. It means that upon your payment of the Total Price to Airbnb Payments, your payment obligation to your Host is satisfied.”

We had therefore already paid the Total Price, as listed on the receipt, and legally satisfied all of our payment obligations to the host.

After we had booked through Airbnb, the host contacted us outside of the Airbnb platform via email to request a security deposit. The host wanted us to pay either a non-refundable deposit of £30 or a refundable deposit of £300. I’ve never paid a deposit on Airbnb before and certainly not made payments to a host outside of Airbnb. It is NOT standard practice to pay a security deposit through Airbnb. Airbnb clearly bans non-refundable deposits. Airbnb also clearly says that all payments should be made through the Airbnb platform.

This host was effectively breaking several rules by (a) not listing any security deposit in the property listing but then requesting one post-booking (b) breaking Airbnb rules on non-refundable deposits (c) trying to take payments outside of Airbnb.

Initially we thought we were being defrauded because of the request to make payment outside of the Airbnb platform. However it turned out that this was a greedy host trying to make additional money through deposits. We were simply not comfortable providing our credit card details to an unknown host via the internet. And we certainly were not happy to pay a deposit we were simply not told about either!

Under consumer protection law in the UK, not clearly mentioning a security deposit in the listing upfront is both very misleading and clear misrepresentation. It is therefore our opinion that this host is breaking UK law.

In the end, the host refused to provide check in details to us and we were therefore unable to access the property at all. We had to get to find an alternative hotel at the very last minute.

If you read the 1 star reviews online of MyGetaways you will see that other guests have experienced exactly the same problem we encountered. Our experience was not a one-off issue with this host but more their standard business practice. Other customers describe the company as greedy, attempting to profit at every opportunity and using the deposit to cover damage not caused by guests. Based on my experience with this host, we have to agree with these other unhappy guests. We just wish we had read the reviews before booking with this company/host.

We therefore feel this is an accurate review of this host and we have not unfairly criticised this host. The criticism is accurate and warranted.

We are now in dispute with the host to get our money back for the accommodation we were not able to use. We are taking action through Airbnb and our credit card company to get our monies refunded.

In summary, this was a terrible experience from a dreadful company. Avoid this company...

I have no idea how they even have 4 stars on here but if I could give them a zero I would. I booked through booking.com (thank goodness) and from what I can see they have more than one properly so I’m going to assume the one me and my friends stayed at has not been booked in a long time. When we got there we were hit by a strong smell of damp which we thought would disappear once we cracked a window open. Went and checked out the rest of the property only to find mould all over the kitchen walls, around the bathroom door and ceiling and I can guarantee there was mould in the bed room too but the cupboards were boarded up (assuming to cover the mould) as that’s where it smelled the strongest. The covers and pillows were in the cupboard which smelled of damp so we had to leave the property to go and buy laundry detergent. In the rain. We contacted customer services straight away but of course they did not take it seriously. They ignored my complaint about the mould and smell and focused on the fact that there was absolutely no phone signal in the property. I contacted Booking.com who were a lot more helpful but because of the time we had no time to move to a different property. There were so many drain flies which of course isn’t shocking considering it’s the perfect place for them to live. What’s more gross is that the bathroom sink was partly blocked so as we’re using the sink we had deal with dead flies in the water. I honestly can not even begin to explain my experience but it was disgusting on a whole Different level. no phone network in there so we had to stand outside in the rain waiting to hear from someone. I was being completely ignored by customer service (I have screen shots) so do not expect them to help at all. I made it clear that I wanted someone to come and check the property whilst we are there because just from the messages I knew they would not take it seriously. We paid £285 to live in that. We had to leave the windows open whilst it was raining and very windy. It was that or having to live in that smell. We used the laundry detergent we bought and mixed that with some hot water to get rid of some of the smell. I am still waiting for them to back to me after being told that maintenance had checked the property after we had left and it’s not as bad as we made out!!!! I was not surprised at all by this response even though I sent many pictures to them. Are the pictures lying? Honestly, just avoid booking with them. They are greedy and don’t care about their customers at all. They offered me £50 as a goodwill gesture?!!!! Good will??? I would not even have paid £50 to stay there let alone £285!!!!!!

EDIT- I was refused compensation as I wrote this review. If I had stayed quite then just maybe they would have handled my complaint as any other business would. Unfortunately they never got back to me which I’m not surprised to...

NO HOT WATER FOR THREE NIGHTS AND ZERO COMPENSATION

I’m reviewing on behalf of a group of seven guests who stayed in one of the MyGetAways Brighton apartments from Friday to Monday (3 nights) from 1-4th August. Unfortunately, our experience was severely impacted by a number of issues, the most serious being the complete lack of hot water throughout the duration of our stay.

Upon arrival, we discovered and reported there was no hot water in the apartment. After waiting for the issue to be fixed (unsuccessfully for some hours) we were offered the use of another property—a 13-minute walk away—to shower for a few hours for the entire duration of the stay (4 days, 3 nights) While this may have seemed like a solution, it was a significant inconvenience, especially as it was dark and there were 7 women who all needed to wash and dry long hair.

Dispute a handyman visiting twice during the three day period, the issue was never fixed, no alternative accommodation was offered and of our plans were disrupted all weekend.

Hot water is a basic and essential human need, and not providing it is a failure to meet even the most fundamental accommodation standards—especially in a property advertised as a ‘premium’ short-term stay.

The lack of urgency, sympathy, or effective resolution from the MyGetAways team only made the situation worse.

In addition to the hot water issue, we encountered the following problems:

The oven was filthy, with an entire tray of congealed fat left inside. Two of the rooms had windows that could not be opened, resulting in unbearable heat throughout the night, especially given the warm weather. There was one small fan - a fan should be provided in each room over the summer months, particularly given the window issues aforementioned. There was significant mould in all rooms on all window sills. The en-suite plumbing was unbearably loud anytime you’d use on the toilet or run any water, which meant it couldn’t be used at all overnight. There was an alarm in the cupboard of the second room, which went off multiple times on Sunday night, waking everyone in the apartment. The WiFi stopped working entirely on Friday evening, and despite continually resetting, never resumed functionality, leaving us without connection for the remainder of the weekend.

These issues collectively amounted to false advertising—we did not receive the standard or experience promised in the listing. We paid for a fully functioning, comfortable apartment and instead endured cold showers, poor cleanliness, broken amenities and dismissive communication.

After all of this, MyGetAways only offered 10% of my next purchase with them. This is completely unacceptable, not least because I will never be booking...