Still Life Vauxhall Two Bedroom Apartment

I had a terrible experience and lost $3300. I travelled to London for eight nights for a combo work/family vacation. Less than 48 hours before my arrival, the location was switched with one less bathroom as a prior tenant refused to leave the originally booked location. It was difficult to find alternate housing for 8 nights, thus I agreed to the new location. Instead of having someone meet at the pre-disclosed time (between 8:45-9pm) email instructions were sent with two different apartment numbers. The provided keys (in a lockbox) did not work in either apartment and my US mobile could not connect to the after hours number, despite attempting different mobile number combinations. Nobody at Still Life contacted us the evening of check-in to confirm we got into the apartment safely. For our safety (it was after 10:30pm), we rented a hotel room elsewhere in London. I notified VRBO who closed my first case as they never heard back from Still Life. Still Life eventually contacted me the next day to clear up the situation, but work commitments did not allow 4 hours to travel to the new lodging, pack, check out and relocate back to the ‘purportedly available’ apartment. I would hope a large rental company would recognize their part of the mix-up and reimburse me since I had to find alternate lodging.

Firstly, the best part about this place was the location. It is at Vauxhall bridge near a tube station on the Victoria Line as well as a bus station, national rail services, and a dock for the Uberboat that runs on the Thames. Also, the view is nice from the front window overlooking the river and you can walk to multiple nice eating and drinking establishments. On the downside, there were just some small issues that did not really take away from our vacation but that I think the owner should address: 1) the faucet in the kitchen leaked (I think they are going to address this as I let them them know) 2) the laundry machine takes a long time to run through a cycle - like 6+ hours - I would add a dryer if possible 3) The kitchen door is constantly in the way. When it is open, you cannot open the refrigerator, when it is half closed you cannot get to the sink, etc. I would just remove the door as it serves 4) In general, the furniture is of very low quality and is either already broken or feels like it may break at any moment - basically its like an IKEA setup. To end on a high note, the management team was very responsive to all messages / communications.