Avis Gordon House, 4 Bedroom Home from Home in Kettering

This property is excellent for a target market of people travelling for work who just need a functional place to sleep and aren't fussy about the conveniences and luxuies usual in holiday let properties. We were happy with our stay because we had full days planned and were only in the property from 10pm to 8am each day, but I wouldn't recommend a holiday here if relaxing at the property would be part of the plan. The staircase is too steep for anyone older than 65ish or younger than 7ish. Despite the listings claiming it could accommodate up to 7 - we were a group of 3 - there were only 1 or 2 of many basic items of crockery/glassware/mugs etc so a larger group would not be well served (fortunately we hadn't planned any meals here - but we couldn't even all have a cup of tea at the same time!). There are no bedside lights and very inadequate curtains if you don't want to be woken at sunrise by light streaming in through gauze. Arrival communication was sketchy, we were only given the instructions an hour or so before the check-in time, long after we had left home, so I was unable to include this in my pre-holiday preparations and had to access the email from the doorstep, and then when we got into the property all we could access was the corridor as all the bedrooms were locked with individual keycode locks and we had not been given the codes. It was very nice that the hosts provided free teabags, coffee granuals, milk portions, biscuits and butter portions, a welcoming and friendly touch.

There is much more to say but overall, I was reminded more of student accommodation than holiday accommodation for grandparents and guests. I fear the stairs and general state of the place led 2 of our party and their child to refuse to stay and they moved to an hotel. Headline pricing for our 6 nights had been significantly increased as a result of needing to sleep 7, with hindsight strengthening the impression of student accommodation let by the person. I will have overpaid by 3 persons too. We gave 2 stars overall because it was not terrible, though it was not far short. It was definitely not worth the premium price paid. As it happens, we are unlikely to need to repeat that booking but we would not wish to repeat at all the experience at Gordon House and are disappointed with VRBO in that respect.

Not what we expected