Lauren’s place is nicely appointed and in a convenient area close to shops, the beach and felt safe and was quiet. The place looks like it’s images albeit the quality of certain furniture such as the master bed and the couch didn’t really stack up to the images (photos well, functionally a lot less comfortable).
When we arrived, we found the place hadn’t really been cleaned all that well finding food stains on the benchtops, greasy and unclean dishes/cooking trays in the cupboards, the Nespresso machine was full of empty pods and clearly hadn’t been cleaned under in a while given the layer of grease surrounding its base and how hard it was to empty it the first time, hair in the showers, etc. Unfortunately as we were self isolating, Lauren’s team wasn’t able to send in a cleaner to fix these issues (completely understandable) but it feels like these shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place.
Lauren’s team was responsive to messages throughout our stay and did correct issues as best she or her team could. When there were issues that could be resolved (like all the batteries in the TV remotes being flat), Lauren’s team were able to arrange a fix promptly.
There were two big issues though with our stay. First, airconditioning. The place does have an AC unit but it’s only in the lounge room and when the temperature is in the 30s, this unit does absolutely nothing to cool down any of the bedrooms. It definitely can cool the living room/kitchen but if you’re someone who struggles to sleep when it’s hot, this place isn’t for you.
The second was when the gas (and hot wster) was turned off by the utility provider. The host told us this was due to a billing issue and resulted in the gas being turned off to the property twice in a row. The host simply advised us to turn the gas back on at the meter but that shouldn’t have even been a requirement in the first place. Showering before bed and in the morning with cold water wasn’t pleasant because we hadn’t noticed the gas had been switched off earlier in the day.
I will also note that during the stay, the host wasn’t actually available as noted at check-in via AirBnB message, they were on maternity leave and had a team filling in. Not a problem for us but worth noting.
I’ll be honest, it’s a nice enough place but there are issues with it based on our stay. I’d stay again if I needed to but I’d probably do it in winter so the heat in the bedrooms isn’t as much of an issue.