Akama House is a beautifully built property with access to kayaks and close to a lake. Having a meal in the balcony upstairs is a great experience.
However, having a nicely built property at a good location isn’t just what Airbnb is all about.
Check in/ communication: In total I received approximately 10 auto emails and two text messages from booking this place. Eg: PDFs of house rules, compulsory form for tenant information and reminders and pre-arrival info which was quite excessive and unnecessary as it’s already in the Airbnb app.
Key collection: others have mentioned this too, but it is inconvenient to have to drive to a back office to pick up and drop off the keys. Many airbnbs have a key locker.
Unwelcoming gestures: We were aware there was no wifi but didn’t know there were no reception either, so it was quite disappointing that there were no brochures or any notes recommending activities near Smiths Lake given this was a holiday home in a tourist location.
Instead of welcoming documents, there were two warning notices on the fridge and in the balcony about financial penalty and eviction of guests if they receive noise complaints and more rules against “anti social behaviours”, despite previously submitting all the information of our friends and the intention of our stay and our ages. Understand this might have happened before with other guests, but it felt unpleasant for all of us.
Linen: we understood this was BYO bath towels and bed linens but didn’t know a two day trip meant we were suppose to pack our whole lives. There were no tea towels, hand towels or bath mats. My friend slipped in the bathroom, had to use tissues in the kitchen and also had no oven mitten or anything to take out hot trays from the oven….
Cutlery : cutlery in the drawer were dirty upon arrival. We use a bbq wipe to wipe the BBQ and it was also black and dirty.
Obsolete items : I also have a picture of an old scratched up plate that was off putting to eat from, which should be thrown out and not be used in an AIRBNB property. We had to use it because we ran out of plates.
Table tennis rackets were so worn out and ripped that it felt unwelcoming. We didn’t end up using them.
Overall, there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. Hope this review is taken well as it comes from good intentions.
All the best,