In article ,
sacha wrote:

I don't know if it's just a British habit to do that but friends have
told us of some horrendous encounters with tatty furniture,
uncomfortable beds, washing machines that don't etc. Everywhere we
stayed in NZ was, without exception, comfortable, beautifully furnished
and with superb breakfasts. Their b&b association does a great job.

You should adapt to the location you are visiting. I used to carry
a complete household toolkit when on holiday in rural areas, and
usually had to fix quite a few completely broken items. My most
common job was attaching the toilet to the floor :-)

Funny if it wasn't also shameful! Friends of mine with 3 year old twins
were told by a holiday cottage owner that if the the washing machine
wasn't working properly, they should just go to the launderette. No
apologiy, no "I'll get it fixed or put in a new one", no money off the
price of the holiday! In a wet summer, they spent more time trying to
wash and dry wet or sandy clothes than any other single thing.

Well, it depends. You shouldn't expect all mod. cons if you rent a
cottage in rural West Cork, or the more rural parts of France. The
local people would just get round any problems, which is why they
expect you to. We fairly often had to wash things by hand and
string them up around the house. If you think that's bad, you would
really not like some of the places that I have lived in :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.