This is my first ever less than 5-star review, and I use VRBO frequently. The actual flat is lovely and the location couldn't be better. BUT - be sure you have telephone access during your stay, or hope that nothing goes wrong. We had no heat and no hot water for the first 24 hours and the owner/manager did not reply to a single message sent by email or VRBO message.
We arrived at 9pm after a full day of travel. The flat was 14C (57F). We spent some time trying to turn the heat up, but nothing worked. We decided to just take hot showers and jump in bed, only to find that there was no hot water. I sent a message through VRBO to ask for help, but by morning there was still no heat and no reply.
I ended up tracking down a telephone (am I the only one who relies on WiFi when traveling internationally?) and calling the caretaker. He arrived late that evening (so no heat/hot water all day) and was easily able to fix a problem with the boiler. So, problem solved, but we never heard back from the owner/manager, though I sent multiple messages specifically asking for a reply.
A couple other things, that I wouldn't bother to mention if it wasn't for the lack of communication:
- The flat is not labeled in any way, even with an address or unit number. The street door has no number (identified because it was the next in order), and the two interior doors to the unit were only identifiable because the keys didn't fit in the other doors. Late in the evening, it felt pretty creepy to be trying keys in random doors.
- When we arrived, the dishwasher was full of dirty dishes and the toilet had cleaner in it but hadn't been scrubbed. Seemed like the cleaner didn't quite finish up. No problem, we just ran the dishwasher.
Bottom line: the place was fine and if the boiler hadn't gone out, or if the owner/manager had replied to even one of my messages, this would have been a 5-star review. But when I use an interface like VRBO, I expect good communication through this interface. I wouldn't deal with this owner again.