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| 958-1/2 Ocean Blvd Hampton NH -- the nightmare was complete when the major construction began on the 3rd day of my vacation. It was a close and constant presence, completely obstructing the beach, filling the air with noisy beeping and crashing of rocks, for the duration of the vacation. |
I vacationed at "The Little House" at 958-1/2 Ocean Boulevard, on Plaice Cove, in Hampton NH. It was advertised on HomeAway.com. It cost $2200 for a week -- not cheap considering you can get a Caribbean vacation for two including airfare for about that price. I vacationed there in July 2013 with my wife and 2-year-old child.
It was a nightmare vacation!
Here's why:- Way more "rustic" than the listing let on
- Dangerous for young children
- Rocky beach, practically impossible to walk into the water barefoot
- Massive construction project blocking the beach
- Owner/landlord Susan Koster was unresponsive and unwilling to make things right
I tried to work things out with the owner/landlord, Susan Koster, during and after the vacation. But even though Susan Koster seemed sweet and accommodating during "the courtship," before all the paperwork was signed and payments were sent, she disappeared when the sh*t hit the fan, and she was totally unwilling to consider a reimbursement of any of the rental fee after learning about my unsatisfactory experience.
My only recourse now is to post an accurate review expressing my disappointment with my vacation. Maybe it will give me some peace of mind, and maybe it will save some other poor sucker from falling for it and renting this place in the future.
Dear Bob, thank you very much for putting this out on the web. My husband and I were planning to rent a place next door and when I Googled the address for directions, I saw your blog. We were looking at a different place, but really wanted a relaxing, quiet few days. If we had gotten there and saw bulldozers and had to suffer the sounds of major construction, it would certainly have ruined our plans. So at least someone has benefitted from your miserable experience. Thank you, we will reschedule for post-construction!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comment! I have exercised so much angst over this situation and it is comforting to know someone has benefited from it.
DeleteBob, great idea to write everything down in a blog - I totally do agree that this can give you peace of mind! We spent some time in New Zealand this summer and had rented a small apartment in a hotel which has a lot of parallels to your story. Describing the furniture as "rustic" would be more than polite, the room was actually shabby & worn and the room service didn't really know what cleaning means. It was advertised as a 5-star hotel on the website, no mention of the actual side building we were put in. We still stayed through the full 6 days, as we were traveling with a ton of luggage and two kids and were just too lazy to make new arrangements.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we had given them a bad review on TripAdvisor and even uploaded photos. The pics have somehow disappeared from there and the owner of the place did respond to our review in a totally inappropriate way, blaming us for being bad guests who don't appreciated the splendor of that "great" hotel which everybody else than us loves so much. He actually did respond in a similar way to all the negative reviews and I am considering doing a blog post on how NOT to use social media and how to turn criticism into an opportunity ;-)
This guy would really deserve a shit storm. We have been soooo angry about all this...
So great blog, Bob, hope this finds you well!
Bettina
Bettina, I am so sorry to hear about the experience you commented about above!
DeleteIt is such a horrible experience to work hard all year round, spend good money on a holiday, and then spend the holiday (and much time after the holiday) angry and stressed out because things were not as planned or promised!
I had success posting my experience to Yelp (http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-little-house-hampton#hrid:Q5vZ5UFzheRVEgnQ_sP84Q) but so far my efforts with TripAdvisor are stalled. The owner convinced HomeAway to not allow my review to be published, but I have lodged a complaint with them and maybe something will come of that.
My advice: write about it. It helps you process the emotion and maybe it will help some other poor sucker from making the same mistake.
I love how you actually grabbed the URL for it in the hopes that, as Anonymous did above, Googled it and found it. SEM FTW!
ReplyDeleteThanks Al. When I Googled the address prior to renting the place I wish there had been something that showed up in the search results to give me the real deal about this property and this owner.
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