4/10 Poor
James R.
29 Aug 2019
Good location - but property well below acceptable standard
Good points:
Location brilliant with beautiful views of the lake and mountain. Lathuile is a pretty, tranquil village,close to the beach at Doussard, restaurants and shops. The apartment was peaceful.
Rent reasonable, we needed a property at relatively short notice and this was available. Lake Annecy is well worth visiting and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in the area.
Bad points:
The description of the property advertised on Homeaway is not accurate.
There may be Wifi in the apartment but it was unreliable and weak to the point of not being able to use it, as it kept dropping out and when it did work it was very slow.
The descriptions says there are 100's of television channels in multiple languages, there aren't. It was clear from the apartment welcome book that there had been at some point, but this was all crossed out.
There is also no Nespresso machine, only an ordinary filter coffee machine.
The description assures that the apartment has been redecorated and will not look like the photos. This is inaccurate too, as the apartment looks exactly like the photos, and certainly had not been redecorated. Worse still the condition of the apartment was poor. When we arrived one of the armchairs had a broken leg and was unusable. An electrical box was hanging off the wall, although we were assured this was not dangerous. The shower in the bath had a broken lever which switches the water between bath and shower, and the sink in the bathroom was cracked. The washing machine also did not work at first because the tap to it had been turned off and the handle was broken.
It generally gave the impression of being poorly maintained.
I would struggle to recommend the apartment to families with young children as the stairs to the loft as incredibly steep, creaky, and wobbly. The loft hatch was unsecured and had the habit of closing with much noise and force on top of anyone climbing the stairs. The bannisters at the top were also very wobbly and appeared unsafe. Again, we managed with this as our children are older and more sensible.
Considering the large security deposit we had to pay at the time of booking, we at least expected the apartment to be well maintained and faults and breakages to be fixed.
We have stayed at many Homeaway rentals, both in England, France and the USA and this was certainly the worse in terms of upkeep.
If it were completely refurbished it could be a very nice apartment but is not at present.
James R.
Stayed 7 nights in Aug 2019