A week ago we set forth with high hopes for a holiday in Spain. We have friends in Extremadura so we (including Bertie our dog) drove down to a gite I’d booked. I chose it specially because of Bertie. It has a lovely, completely enclosed garden and all of the reviews praised that feature and said how useful and attractive it was. Also, two bedrooms/two bathrooms so nice and roomy for the 3 of us. Only 10 minutes walk from our friends. So all the right boxes ticked. Plus, a Smart TV (luxury).
The hosts were delightful. What more could we ask for?
Well, an internet/wifi that worked for a start! Never more than 1mb which dropped out at the slightest thing. Some days, nothing at all.
Somewhere to put our food would have been useful. Yes, there was a fridge, but no cupboard (or even part of a cupboard) for a loaf of bread, breakfast cereals, a bottle of olive oil, our tea bags (speaking of which, the kettle was so small it only boiled one mug full). There were cupboards - filled with enough glasses and plates for a wedding.
Speaking of bread - a bread knife would have been good, indeed any knife that was actually sharp.
Other stuff? Maybe we were being picky, but we thought it would be good to keep their place looking nice - how about some place mats and coasters to protect their oak table top? Or a small bin in the garden where we could put the dog poo bags? Tea towels maybe? A dustpan and brush? Maybe even a broom so we could sweep the place before we left?
We spent the first morning in the local supermarket buying “stuff”. We donated the breadknife and the tea towels but brought the sharp knife home.
Our friends told us that every time they visit the UK they finish up restocking the Airbnbs they stay in.
In future I will pay much more attention to the negative comments (somewhere in the glowing remarks about the garden there was passing mention of no internet 
)
Sorry to hear about your bad experience.
I must confess to reading all the reviews and also scrutinising the photos on AirBnB before I book - as you have found, a place that looks nice can be missing essentials.
I’ve had to buy corkscrews and a butter knife twice despite these precautions!
Butter knives with flat rounded blades don’t seem to be a very French thing - but spreading hard butter with a pointed knife is not easy!
It always amazes me that owners don’t spend a night or two themselves in the accommodation, to let them see what’s missing or doesn’t work well.
As for Airbnb, I now realise why guests might be reluctant to make negative comments. We stayed in a flat in Liguria last year. It was OK. But there were definitely some niggles. The advertised garage was so short we had to leave it open with our rear end poking out. There was no book of instructions in the flat so we didn’t even know the wifi code.
When we came to leave, the owners (whom we never met and could only contact through the Airbnb messaging service) asked us if we’d be so kind as to give them a 5 star review. To my shame, I did. Simply because there’s very little spare accommodation in this place and we might have to use them again next year.
But did Bertie enjoy himself Sue? That’s what I’d like to know.
Rented a gite in France with no corkscrew once 
. Also a villa in Croatia on a vineyard with no corkscrew.
We love Extremadura and used to spend a lot of time there. Cáceres, Badajoz and especially Zafra.
I thought my gite had it all from the private pool all the way through to the white sofas - but a butter knife?
Never crossed my mind! Will rectify tomorrow 
Bad lighting in the bedroom is my bugbear. So many places get this wrong. If I’m on holiday I want to be able to sit up in bed and read in good light without disturbing the person sleeping next to me.
If you can find one! 
And when not on holiday - so many places I’ve looked at on Bien’Ici have attic bedrooms where the bed has to be jammed up against a sloping wall! OK for sleeping but not for reading in bed!
I find Spain “interesting” but not sure I warm to it. The Sierras have incredible scenery, travelling by car is so easy on all these amazing motorways and dual carriageways, often to ourselves for miles. I struggle with the pompous architecture though and find the Spanish circadian rhythm lunatic. The typical Spanish menu is not subtle!
We crossed back into France yesterday afternoon and immediately felt at home. We found the most wonderful hotel and restaurant (this time the reviews really were right!) and it was just great to be able to book a table for 7:30pm and to get an early night. 
We have a butter knife, oyster knife, grapefruit knife, sharpening steel and so on. Over 10 years of asking departing guests if there is anything they would have liked to have.
The platforms like Air and B with their obsession for 5 star reviews has been hugely detrimental. When we book ourselves we scrutinise photos very carefully! And look at what the reviews don’t say rather than what they do say.
He definitely approved of the garden. Being of an elderly disposition and being taken short at 3 in the morning, it’s good to be able just to pop outside. I approved as well, puffa coat over dressing gown, gloves and a hat made wandering outside with him (head torch on) relatively painless.
He decided there were enough sofas in the lounge - trying all three of them through the course of most evenings, but would have appreciated it if the hosts had left us wood for the log fire - the evenings were nippy.
My standards are slipping. 
I will go hunting tomorrow.
The grapefruit knife has only been used once I think! A family asked for it, and since I had one I handed it over to the gîte and never brought it back since we don’t eat grapefruit.
Absolutely. You have to work at it! I managed to love eating around 9h, 15h and 22h (and going to bed around midnight) but Madame never got used to it.
And it’s far too hot for us now.
Out of interest, considering the church connection, you wouldn’t have known our friends in Badajoz - Az and Abbie Hobbs (plus Bethany and Daniel) - who lived there for more than 10 years?
No. We were always looking for a church (wherever we went) but never knew one there.
Owners are often blind to issues obvious to everyone else, they work on the principle that “if it’s good enough for me”.