UnderTheDoormat Reviews 39

The worst experience of my life with a host:
Let me start by saying that I am a professional host, so I know how Booking's listings and policies work, and I check everything carefully before booking. Underthedoormat (the manager of this apartment when I made the booking) should not be allowed to rent. After making the reservation (unfortunately non-refundable), they sent me a pre-programmed message asking me to pre-check-in and pay the deposit. This surprised me greatly, as the listing only mentioned a possible refund request in the event of damage—as is only right. And here began an almost surreal conversation with a certain Riza from the Underthedoormat team, who also addressed me in a very arrogant and condescending tone, without in any way trying to find a solution together. When I asked for clarification, I was told that these were their company policies. I pointed out that Booking had written something else and that they therefore had no right to ask for a deposit from an external link, as Booking's host coverage applies in the event of damage. They then threatened not to let me into the apartment until I had paid the deposit.

I contacted Booking's customer service, who, after checking the listing, admitted that, according to what Underthedoormat had stated in the listing, I was not required to pay any deposit and that they would also notify the host that they had no right to ask for it. I wrote back to the host informing them of Booking's decision, but they denied having been contacted by Booking and continued to insist that without the deposit, they would not let me in.

To back up my ideas, between a call to Booking and a message to Underthedoormat, I searched for the host company on Google and Trustpilot to see the reviews: I discovered that they often try to scam guests by withholding the deposit for damage already present in their properties when guests arrive - damage that may not have been reported on arrival because they did not think the company would try to scam them.

It's never pleasant to give such a low rating, especially when the apartment looks as beautiful as this one. However, this kind of experience with a host is truly shameful and ruined my desire to go on the trip. I was also left with the anxiety that they would prevent me from entering the apartment and cause me problems during and after my stay. This is unacceptable.

In the end, they canceled my reservation a few days before arrival, forcing me to find another place to stay close to my vacation destination with, of course, a limited choice of options left.

Overall, the apartment was nice and the stay was good. The location was convenient and the communication from the Underthedoormat team was quick and helpful during our stay.

However, after we checked out they claimed £130 in compensation for a stain on the carpet that we did not cause. Firstly, we did not make this stain. Secondly, the stain is barely visible and only noticeable in certain lighting, so it is very difficult to understand how removing it could justify a charge of £130.

This left a negative impression after what was otherwise a pleasant stay.

Unfortunately, selling process is very smooth.
However customer experience is the total opposite.
Among the most notable issues we have:
1. House is 18*C degree inside while outide is 13*C.
2. The shower is cold, after asking for a fix. Nothing happened and been told it will work the day after. But no luck.
3. Advertised a garden that is not there/ is shared / accessible only by the road.
4. Half of the fortunitures are sealed and locked.
Totally recommend to avoid.

Terrible terrible terrible. We rented their apartment in Fulham and got there to find out the heating and hot water weren’t working in winter. They Continued to delay until we left two days after. please do not book this place. They are a scam.

Do not use this service - they are unresponsive and their pictures are deceiving. We checked in and the linens are poor quality, WiFi and heat doesn't work. We have called Marriott and under the door and neither have been responsive. Go elsewhere.

We arrived at the property. And he showed us around and handed us the keys. There was one door key and two key cards to get into the building. He then left. We went immediately to buy some shopping. We noticed that the second key card was broken and had been glued together. We contacted managagement - you cannot get in touch directly- to a call centre - which i think is abroad. They were utterly useless and said that they couldn't provide a second key. We were 4 people and needed the key. They accused us of breaking the key and we provided photos of it glued together and put in the plastic covering. They continued to say it was broken. Finally a DAY latter the extra key had been put in the mailbox but it took 2-4 hours of phone calls and emails and they kept just saying they coudln't do anything. OK FINE

I am not a compaliner. But we had paid a deposit. and i went back to work and completely forgot about it. We booked via booking.com and 2 months later - in October - i got an email saying they were refunding the deposit and i hadn't notice. But were charging us 20 pound for a key. WEIRDLY 27 pound had been deducted. I thought i was being scammed so i called them. They said there had been an oversight and there accounts had looked over repaying the 240 quid deposit fee!

THEY THEN INSISTED that the property owner had said we had broken the key. I expaliend the situation - then asked to speak to the manager. They said htere was no manager. Then they said there was one and put me on hold for 2 hours. I am still awaiting a resolution.

Had a brilliant stay in the Ebury Suite at 3 Sloane Gardens. Isaac, the on-site manager, greeted me at the front desk and promptly showed me to my apartment. The apartment was lovely - on the first floor with high ceilings and tastefully furnished with some great art on the walls. Fabulous location - 100m or so from Sloane Square and the tube. Quiet at night and the kitchen had everything you’d need to cook, if you decided to not take advantage of the excellent dining options on your doorstep. Highly recommended!

The absolute worst experience I have ever had booking accommodation. I booked an apartment at the Seville in Tottehnam Hale with under the doormat via Airbnb and it is safe to say as a frequent traveller this whole experience from start to finish was atrocious.

You are required to complete a check in form which is over the top and asks for personal details, identification for every person staying and more. After all of this we arrived to check in and nobody at the property was aware of our booking. After trying to check in for nearly an hour and ringing under the doormat who hung up on me, the staff at the apartment felt so sorry for me and another under the doormat guest who was in the same predicament that they checked us in without any confirmation being received.

After that terrible experience I thought things couldn't get any worse but we arrived to apartment 96 on the 10th floor and the smell was terrible. There was a smell of sewage coming from the utility cupboard which was so terrible we were not able to sleep in there. We rang under the doormat again who were absolutely USELESS! luckily the staff at the apartment came to the room and moved us to another apartment as they confirmed we couldn't sleep there for the night.

We were moved from a 1 bed apartment into a studio apartment and when I complained to under the doormat they took absolutely no accountability and said the apartment we now had was of a similar standard which was absolutely not the case. The studio apartment we had to stay in is literally cheaper to book on their website compared to the 1 bed I had booked for my stay and they refused to offer any compensation.

This company is TERRIBLE and I would advise not booking with them if you want to enjoy your stay. They take no accountability and put the blame for everything on you the booker. I changed my check in time due to delays and they made it seem that this was the reason for the issues I encountered although the staff were completely unaware of my booking period!

TERRIBLE COMPANY, TERRIBLE COMMUNICATION AND TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. do yourself a favour and book with literally anyone else!.

Luckily because I booked through Airbnb I was covered and they stepped in to help immediately and confirmed that the conditions of my booking had not been met by the company and offered a resolution.

WILL NEVER USE UNDER THE DOORMAT AGAIN AND I WOULD ADVICE NOBODY USES THEM!!

Zero stars if it was possible. This experience was the absolute worst I have encountered. After making the booking on airbnb, I realised that when contacting the host there is no host only an outsourced office who send automated messages and couldn’t care less what your issue is. They send the same repeated message so you waste time getting nowhere. I called under the doormat directly and they too would not help and did not return calls etc. Their main aim, to take your money no matter what the circumstances. Upon check in, we received no information from the ‘host’ and when we messaged we again receive an automated message. This time it’s to provide our personal data and a security deposit! Sorry but airbnb has our data and we paid the full amount upfront months ago. Underthedoormat refused to meet us at the property or even tell us the address unless we filled out the form and paid. Therefore we never checked in. How this company can operate under airbnb is amazing. It certainly lowers Airbnb’s reputation. As for the host (the person who owns this property in London) who was too greedy to agree for a refund of any kind, it just shows how poor and pathetic some people in the world are.

Zero stars would work. Misrepresentation, bot replies, flawed plumbing, dingy interior. Left after one night which was one night too long.
“May hear some noise from the underground” meant shaking walls and windows every 6.5 minutes from 5:30 am til midnight.
I needn’t go on, buyer be the F beware.

We booked a short-term rental of "a luxury Sloane Square flat" called "Stucco in the Middle" with the Plum Guide. The flat is managed by Under the Doormat (UTD), which is something we discovered after paying in advance and in full. The rep from UTD arrived at the rental after we did, took maybe 2 minutes to check the flat, and then let us in. It was easily 90 degrees F inside. The rep confessed she'd never been to the flat before and had no idea how to work the heat. I went upstairs to use the bathroom and discovered the sink was clogged and would not drain. I went to dry my hands only to find a filthy towel on the rack. Washing your hands after using the master bathroom required going down 4 flights of rickety, narrow stairs. So much for luxury.
The place had not been professionally cleaned before our arrival. A cleaning crew would have discovered the clogged sink. They would have laundered the towel on the rack. They would have shampooed the carpets, which were filthy.
We contacted UTD and they asked for photos, then videos. When we checked back in, we got all new reps asking us to start over again describing the issues, asking for more videos. We left late in the afternoon of the second day of our stay, and though promises were made, no cleaning crew (and more importantly) no plumber ever arrived to deal with the problems.
Like all the properties on Plum Guide, UTD's entry on "Stucco in the Middle" included some "home truths." Leaving aside the filthy and rundown condition of the flat, the home truths mentioned the possibility of occasionally hearing trains downstairs. Real truth: with every train -- so, every 10 minutes -- every window in the flat rattled -- from 6AM to 11PM. How's that for luxury?
The home truths do mention that the flat might not be appropriate for the movement impaired. I'm not at all impaired, but 4 flights of rickety stairs just to wash my hands after going to the bathroom is, let's face it, ridiculous.
No matter what you ask for, no matter the condition of the rental, UTD has one stock reply -- "we're sorry you're not happy, but we are not going to give you any of your money back" -- even when the rental isn't cleaned prior to your arrival, even when the plumbing doesn't work, even when the windows rattle every ten minutes, even when the stairs are objectively unsafe.
For the record, Plum Guide refunded half of what we paid, saying they didn't want to profit from our awful experience. On the very day the refund was posted on our credit card account, UTD forwarded their usual response, pulled I dare say from the template used by outfits like United Health Care: delay, deny ... refer back to the fine (and profoundly misleading) fine print -- caveat emptor.

This was the weirdest experience I’ve ever had with short-term accommodation. We booked an apartment for our visitors from overseas and literally didn’t know until the last minute whether they would be able to check in to it. How did this happen? UnderTheDoormat listed this as if it had an individual host. There wasn’t one. “Richard is a name we use” one of their customer service reps admitted. So, corporate inflexibility. An extra duvet was “impossible”. Also, customer service was located in another time zone – we received texts from them at 2 AM. After we emailed the London head of customer service, an extra duvet became possible. Working this out though took – I’m not kidding – a week of back and forth. Then, once our guests were on their way to London we were told we had to provide “pre check-in information” for everyone including detailed personal data and passport scans We hadn’t been warned when we booked. UTD initially agreed to accept just my info because I was booking and I was responsible. Then, just before our guests were due, UTD changed their minds: they weren’t going to let our guests check-in after all – we had to provide passport scans for everyone first. This meant hours more of communication with UTD until they agreed to let me collect the keys and collect further info from our guests after check-in. UTD are the only short-term let manager/owners I’ve dealt with in the UK (where I’ve lived for 20 years) that demands this much personal data. They tried pushing us into a property that wasn’t suitable and literally blamed us for problems with their booking process. For context: I travel throughout the year for work (sometimes in conflict zones) and have never encountered anything like this, anywhere, before.

Edit following UDT's response: While businesses should of course have an opportunity to respond to criticism, much of the information UDT provided below is untrue. It is, though, an example of how they blame guests for any difficulties that arise. It also shows the kind of misleading information they provide that makes for such a chaotic experience. Again, I've never encountered anything else like this.

Terrible service on recent reservation for 11
11 Cambridge Street in London. Poor advertising of 3 beds and 3 baths. (Actually only 2 1/2 baths.) The third bedroom is too small, no closet AND bed for only one. DECEPTIVE pictures on Marriott web site
No service help on arrival, Internet NOT work, Smells from Thai restaurant below. No help for our group so had to leave for hotel. NEVER followed up to help us while there. NOT ANSWER emails!
UNDER the DOOR Mat tried to deny this occurred but even the Marriott site agreed Under the Door mat was incorrect.

I booked this place based on the description, which promised a luxurious, clean, and new apartment. However, my experience was far from that. After a long flight, when we arrived at the apartment, we were greeted by a girl who requested my passports. I was willing to provide my passport, but I requested to be taken to the office so that someone from there could take a picture of it. Unfortunately, the girl informed me that she had to take a picture of our passport using her cell phone, which I refused to allow.
Upon entering the apartment, I immediately noticed that it was extremely dirty. There was an abundance of dust and hairballs all over the place. The kitchen table and chairs were covered in dried food and coffee stains, which was quite disgusting. The bathroom and shower area had mold, and there was water damage on the ceiling. It was unbelievable that I had paid a significant amount of money for such a filthy place. I felt like I had fallen victim to a scam.
I contacted Airbnb to report the situation, but unfortunately, I was transferred from one person to another, with no resolution. I kept receiving notifications on the Airbnb app, stating that they were unable to assist me at that time, and I had to wait. Frustrated, I ended up booking a hotel and immediately moved my family there.
Finally, On the second day, I finally managed to speak with someone from the Airbnb management team. They assured me that my money would be refunded immediately. However, I also requested compensation for the additional expenses I incurred due to having to book a last-minute hotel, which ended up costing me an extra thousand dollars. Unfortunately, I have not received any communication from Airbnb regarding this matter.
This was my first experience with Airbnb, and it has left me extremely disappointed. I no longer have any trust in their service, as you never know what you will end up with in the end. I strongly advise travelers to book directly with hotels instead of going through Airbnb.
Overall, my experience with this apartment was incredibly disappointing. The false promises of luxury and cleanliness, coupled with the lack of assistance from Airbnb, made it a nightmare start to our trip. I highly advise others to avoid this place and exercise caution when booking through Airbnb.

It was simply terrific from beginning to end.

I loved the fact that property was very clean and not too far from the tube station. The entire place was beautiful and peaceful.

Great location, homely apartment, prompt response to complaints and enquiries

The cleanliness of the place and its location is great, as if you are in your home. Everything is available in the place, kitchen utensils and toiletries

Hosting by UnderTheDoormat was great. The guest relations team was very polite and explained everything we needed to know about our home in a clear and easy understandable way. There was a small issue with one of the lamps in the flat not working. We texted this to the team and it was alreay fixed the next day. There was ongoing communication with the guest relation team during our stay. All together a very positive experience.

While the Westminster (London) location was lovely, the deadbolt on the door malfunctioned and locked us inside our flat that was several stories from the ground. We discovered this around 1am. Initially the Under the Doormat office told us they would send help immediately, then they went quiet on us after saying nobody was available to help. We were international travelers and had no one else local to call for help. Thank goodness we had no overnight emergencies but come 9am, we were well beyond desiring coffee, food, and to plain old exit! My husband found a toolbox that we hadn't noticed tucked away in a high cabinet and unjammed it with force. I cannot believe they haven't even offered a refund for that disastrous night.