Shanklin - Flat 9, The Adelaide
15 Esplanade, Shanklin, Isle of Wight PO37 6BN
December 2021
It seems to be a commonly held view now that experience is of little value; young people, those under thirty perhaps, seem to have little appreciation that knowledge is something you accumulate as you go through life: it isn’t programmed into you in your sixteen or so years of formal education, never to be added to. The incorrectness of this modern view has never been more apparent to me than in the past few days, when Viv and I have been staying in this flat, with a good sea view, in Shanklin.
We arrived at 5.20 pm on Tuesday 21st December, to find ourselves within thirty yards of the waves lapping on the beach. We arrived by taxi from Ryde, where, after our hovercraft flight, we had a very good meal at the Ryde Castle Hotel, one of the very few Greene King establishments I hold in high esteem. Normally we would want to arrive at a holiday flat rather earlier in the day, and eat in the locality, but our booking was through Hoseasons, who had advised us:
***** ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE TIMES HAVE CHANGED TO ALLOW MORE TIME TO PREPARE THE PROPERTY. PLEASE DO NOT ARRIVE AT YOUR PROPERTY BEFORE 5PM AND LEAVE BEFORE 9AM ON YOUR DAY OF DEPARTURE. THIS INFORMATION SUPERSEDES THE CHECK IN/CHECK OUT TIMES BELOW. Thank you *****
We therefore expected the property to be warm and ready for us when we arrived.
It wasn’t; the digital thermostat in the hall read 14.5 Celsius - perhaps not an unusual temperature for an unheated flat in the area around the end of December, but not one that had been ‘prepared’ for us.
Neither, for that matter, did it really seem to have been cleaned thoroughly: surfaces had generally been wiped (with the exception of the table mats, which had clear stains on from previous use, which I removed easily with water and a kitchen towel), the carpet looked generally tired, and, on closer inspection, had definite fluff and dust on it. The extractor fan on the ensuite had enough fluff on it to stuff a small cushion. Perhaps the hoover filters needed changing, but that surely doesn’t excuse visible dirt in the current climate, not when there is so much - possibly irrational - fear of poorly cleaned surfaces.
Not only was it clear that there had been no one in in the previous hour or two ‘preparing the property’, but, when I looked into the low temperature I found out the boiler had a fault. I reset it, but it failed again; over the next day or so I became very familiar with Vaillant boiler error codes F28 and F29. After faffing around for two hours I first called the property manager, who did not answer, I then called the Hoseasons helpline and reported the fault; they referred it on to the property manager and owner but we had no help until Wednesday morning. We were on the brink of going home and cancelling our holiday when I accidentally discovered that the hot water was actually working (thanks to an immersion heater I had previously managed to fire into life). I would have noticed this earlier if one of the basins in the flat had not been plumbed in incorrectly (hot is always on the left, cold on the right). Whether most of their customers would have known how to get the immersion heater going might be an interesting question.
The manager did visit the flat, bringing us a ceramic heater, but deferred to the owner to resolve matters. The owner arranged a repairman to visit, on the Thursday morning indeed (which must have involved some string pulling). He ‘freed the condense trap’ which did solve the problem. We had only had to survive with electric fires and Heath-Robinson hot water for a day and a half.
The thing is, Viv and I should never have been in the position we were. Hoseasons had told us the property would be prepared for our visit. It hadn’t been.
Nevertheless, we coped. Others around us - the property manager, the Hoseasons helpline - were seemingly less able to cope with the situation than us; our experience - of matters plumbing and household - proved useful; the property owner, who had only bought the flat eighteen months previously, and had the boiler fitted just two months before, and the manager were, perhaps, distracted by Christmas. All we wanted to do was to enjoy our holiday.
Their lack of preparedness for our stay was the first of a number of observations we've made about the place that, if it was considered from the viewpoint of a holidaymaker, would have clearly been considered to be a bad move. There are others.
***
The kitchen area at No. 9, The Adelaide features a ceramic induction hob, controlled by touch-sensitive controls. These incorporate a child lock - presumably to prevent children cooking their own supper, for, in this era, allowing that must be tantamount to child cruelty. As anyone who has ever tried to open a container of tablets or laundry capsules knows, a child lock might just deter a few children from using the device, but it also comes very close to wholly preventing a significant proportion of the adult population from being able to use it. The hob was no exception; it took me half an hour to get one of the four rings going; if I tried another the whole thing went off. It was not clear where I had to ‘touch’ or in what sequence; there were vague instructions by the hob, but no manual; I managed to find one on the internet (fortunately the flat has great wi-fi) but that only got me to the ‘one ring’ stage. If we had been desperate for beans on toast when we arrived the beans would have had to be done in the microwave (which worked very well); pasta unfortunately needs to boil, so we had to fight the hob.
I can just about forgive the current owner of the flat for the hob, she’s only owned the flat for a fairly short while, but I can’t imagine why the previous owner - who also let it out for holiday use - chose such a feature for the kitchen. Anything that is complicated to use is a liability in a holiday let, for visitors will either fight to use it, become disillusioned and decide to go elsewhere next time, or they may somehow use it incorrectly, and break it. There’s nothing wrong with an old-fashioned gas or electric hob, with simple knobs that turn it on and off - and, if necessary, a set of reins to keep the toddler under control.
***
Other devices that visitors may have trouble with in holiday lets include TV’s; I myself have managed, a year or two ago, to mess one up completely trying to retune it after getting a ‘you need to retune your set’ message. The TV in the lounge at Flat 9 uses Freesat, fairly standard perhaps, although the channels have very different sound levels: you need to undertake a complete adjustment of volume settings on two controllers when jumping from channel to channel. There’s a TV in the master bedroom too, that seems to use Freesat but the channel numbers are nonstandard and it’s a nightmare to find the (supposedly) obscure ones, like GB News or Talking Pictures. Young folks may find it easy to master these different technologies but those of us who have got a bit set in our ways get confused by them, and these challenges might be just the sort of thing that would lead us to look for somewhere with predictable TVs, rather than at The Adelaide, next time.
**
I also found a simpler technology failing to meet my expectations at 9 The Adelaide: lightbulbs. A couple of decades ago, before the internet took over, holiday accommodation had to be advertised in published books, or brochures; to avoid liability the publishers would require all listed properties to be accredited with the AA, RAC or VisitBritain. The BnB I was involved with chose Visit Britain, and they required rooms to have a certain wattage of lighting for the business to be accredited; I was surprised at how high it was - off the top of my head, I think a double room had to have 200 watts of light (this was in the days of simple, incandescent bulbs) - that’s perhaps a hundred in the central room pendant, two forties in the bedside lights and a forty tube over the mirror or in a wall lamp.
Many accommodation businesses fail to meet this standard nowadays; they may think they are doing ‘their bit’ to save the planet. Possibly the owners of Flat 9 think that way; more likely, judging by the building, the builders just put in as few lighting points as possible (for they cost money), and past and present owners have just assumed this to be adequate.
The owners, however, need to put themselves in the place of a visitor trying to find their clothes in the wardrobe in the main bedroom, around 9am, with the curtains open, on a dull, December morning, with the room light on. They then need to consider a visitor in their sixties, perhaps with minor optical issues, undertaking the same task. Then they will see the need for better lighting, in the bedrooms, hall, and lounge (particularly over the dining table). The main bedroom probably has a 75watt equivalent bulb in the main pendant, and 40 equivalent in the bedside lamps - 155 watts in all. A light over the mirror would supplement this nicely, and illuminate the wardrobe. Better lighting in the second bedroom and in the lounge would significantly improve the customer experience.
***
One item a VisitBritain assessor used to expect in a bedroom at an accommodation business for it to be accredited - I think at any level - was a full length mirror. Flat 9 isn’t the only place I’ve stayed recently where there wasn’t one; maybe the younger generation don’t care what they look like when they go out. Don’t they want to check themselves in a mirror before leaving to dine in their best evening dress and high heels - or can they manage to check a full length image of themselves on their phones?
***
I mentioned that the current owner had clearly inherited many flaws in the property when they bought it. I don’t know whether they got a survey done, or whether the original purchaser did, but whoever plumbed in the main bathroom didn’t know what they were doing, and any surveyor would have told them so. As previously mentioned, the hot and cold are the wrong way round on the basin, which is a breach of building regs and a sure sign of an incomptent plumber: if they got that wrong, what else did they cock up? It may appear to be a minor problem but, in a property used as a holiday let, users will become frustrated and, when thinking of where to stay another time, may decide to go somewhere that has proper plumbing. (It is also an important safety issue: the blind know hot is to the left and cold to the right, and risk injury when using incorrectly plumbed in taps).
Another similar flaw is that there seems to be no window in the property that can be easily opened for ventilation. The main opener in the lounge is an - ill-fitting (so much so that light can be seen around the edges when it is closed) - uPVC door onto the balcony; there is a window, a small, inward opening one, above the kitchen worktops. But shortage of kitchen storage and worktop space mean that sill is in use, leaving the balcony door as the main option for ventilation. In one bedroom is a large tilt-and-turn opener, on tilt leaving a much larger opening than I would want in December; in the other bedroom, the opener is a door for a Juliet balcony - again, hardly what you want for overnight ventilation in the winter. Builders don’t fit more windows than they want to, they cost more than breeze blocks, but, strangely, paying customers may well want them.
***
I mentioned kitchen storage: a bit of a rethink might permit some shelving above some of the worktops, which would have given us somewhere for us to put our non-fridge food items - for which there was only one tiny cupboard available. There is also nowhere to put the roasting trays that are stored normally in the oven when you’re cooking in it; I ended up putting one in the bedroom while our tuna pasta bake cooked in the oven. Another kitchen point relates to the tap: hot and cold positions aren’t obvious, and it is of a shape that does not always make for easy filling of the supplied kettle - the spout of the tap is quite low.
More in the kitchen: some of the wine glasses provided had very long stems. I’d rather not use them, I fear they would easily topple over. We ended up using the tumblers provided, even for wine.
***
A point that might upset some is that the flat has no assigned parking space; from May to September, anyone staying there would have to buy a parking permit to park on the Esplanade - assuming they can find a space. In terms of location, there is also no convenience store within easy walking distance - all the shops are up the hill in the town. The location itself, beneath the cliff at Shanklin, may be the cause for the poor mobile phone reception we experienced in parts of the flat.
***
Strangely, even with all these issues, Viv and I coped. Indeed, we enjoyed our stay at Flat 9. Why? Because we understood the limitations, we used our experience and knowledge to cope with them. There are some very positive points about the property. For a start, it’s modern, warm, with reliable water, electricity and wifi. The location is good if it suits you: right opposite the beach, with its restricted sea view, a couple of pubs close by, and great for walks along the bay towards Sandown. The sound of waves on the beach through the open windows at all times of day does compensate for many minor failings.
That doesn’t mean we’d necessarily stay there again however; maybe I’ll ask Hoseasons whether they have any correctly plumbed properties on their website (I bet they can’t tell), or we’ll just choose the Premier Inn, or Ryde Castle Hotel, because they are chain hotels and we know what to expect there. If we stay at The Adelaide again, we shall, at least, know what we might be letting ourselves in for.
Finally, we won’t book with Hoseasons again. ‘Covid’ has become a byword for shortchanging the customer, incompetence, and lack of service in supposed service industries. Yes I can clean a shower vent or get an immersion heater working - but why should I have to when I’m supposedly on holiday? So we shan’t be booking anything with Hoseasons until they stop pretending that it's a good thing for the customer that they can’t check in until 5, because they are arranging cleaning that’s so intensive it will need that extra time.
