Is there real milk in Switzerland?
From sunbathing naked to bringing their own horse! Interhome reveals some of the more unusual queries from holiday-makers booking their self-catering escape in the sun. As one of Europe’s leading providers of holiday homes to rent, Interhome (interhome.co.uk) has received its fair share of outlandish requirements and bizarre enquiries from clients over the years.
As the summer season reaches its peak, Interhome shares some of the more entertaining and off-the-wall requests that will make your demand for hot running water seem positively trivial!
This year a holiday-maker asked if Interhome could erect a fence at the bottom of the garden so that the family dog wouldn't escape. The property owner willingly agreed and bought the fence. Sadly, the client had to cancel the booking at the last minute but offered to pay for the fence, so grateful was she for the owner’s efforts. Thankfully the owner managed to return it to the shop and get a refund!
Another client this summer arrived at the local Interhome office in their selected resort to collect the keys to their property but there was no record of their booking. It transpired that they had booked online for 2008 instead of 2007 and even though their voucher confirmed dates for 2008 they had turned up a year early! Luckily Interhome was able to find another property to suit their needs.
Property-owners are also used to clients getting their ‘holiday-heads’ on once they arrive at their destination, with hilarious consequences. One family decided that the water in the swimming pool of their holiday-home wasn’t quite cold enough so they drained the pool and decided to try and fill it up again with water from the tap.
The pool in question required 40,000 litres of water and so it took nearly all week to fill it again! Another client complained that in her holiday-home all the handles of the mugs were broken off. When the owner came round to investigate he found that the ‘mugs’ she was referring to, were in fact bowls!
Interhome has over 20,000 properties for rent across Europe varying widely in size and style from intimate city apartments for two, to 27-room villas. However, even they were stumped when asked if they had a holiday-home for eight people with parking for a boat with trailer, a caravan, two jet skis and three cars. Another client asked if she could bring her horse with her and keep it in the garden of the property whilst another asked if he could take his five dogs with him to a two-person apartment!
A recent enquiry from a female client was whether she could sunbathe naked outside her rental home without being overlooked!
A client from India booked an Interhome house up in the mountains and arrived in an 18-ton 17-metre double-decker bus. Unfortunately their vehicle was so big that it couldn’t make it up the mountain to the property but Interhome was able to find them somewhere else to stay.
Finally a British client who booked a rental property in Italy forgot to take his holiday voucher with him containing the address details and directions to the holiday home. Instead he decided to attempt to find his property using just the page from the brochure and looked around for a house which matched the picture! Needless to say he had to call Interhome for assistance.
Madeleine Winship, Director of Interhome said: “Interhome has been renting holidays homes to clients across Europe for more than 40 years and in that time we have received all manner of requests and queries. We felt it was about time we shared some of the more unusual requests we’ve had to show holiday-makers that if you don’t ask, you don’t get!
“As a company we and our holiday-home owners seek to do everything we can to accommodate the needs of our clients and we’d far prefer them to stipulate their requirements and get what they want from their holiday, than to keep quiet and end up disappointed. As some of the examples demonstrate, even the most complicated of demands can often be met if the client only asks the question”
For reservations visit Interhome.co.uk.
