Youryorkshiretime Reviews 

Harlequin House itself is a beautiful property and we genuinely had a wonderful time during our stay. The house is well-equipped and provided a lovely setting for our group. However, our overall experience was unfortunately tainted by the unacceptable handling of the deposit and the poor communication that followed.

We were required to pay an extortionate £600 deposit outside of Airbnb, which immediately raised concerns. Following our stay, we faced significant difficulty in recovering this deposit. Communication was disjointed, as the owner seems to rely on various third parties to manage the property, making it extremely challenging to get consistent responses.

After more than two weeks of silence, we finally received an email claiming we had breached the contract — allegedly because a heavily pregnant friend joined us for a few hours during lunch, briefly increasing our number to 13 instead of the 12 stated in the booking. This guest did not stay overnight, and her short visit could easily have been verified via the CCTV they claimed to have reviewed. However, despite our explanation, they deducted a considerable portion of the deposit for this minor and clearly harmless occurrence.

We suspect the delay in communication was deliberate — likely to run out the clock on Airbnb’s review window, thereby discouraging us from posting honest feedback.

Additionally, some of our group experienced rudeness from the staff at the swimming area. A woman and a man present during our visit were impolite and unprofessional, going so far as to leave the changing room door open while some of us were getting changed, which was both inappropriate and disrespectful.

While the house itself has great potential, the unprofessionalism and questionable conduct around deposit handling and guest treatment significantly marred our experience. I would advise future guests to proceed with caution and to be very clear about the terms of their stay — and to document everything.