When we arrived the house smelt like an old motel. The house is badly in need of a deep cleaning which is a shame because the location is brilliant.
Apart from general griminess and sticky cupboards, we've discovered to our horror, that the bed sheets weren't changed. We've contacted the host immediately but they argued that they've seen photos and the beds are made. Whilst it's true that the beds were made, the sheets weren't changed. I've sent several photos and they suggested that the fitted sheets were creased because they weren't ironed. Unfortunately it was only creased only on one side with clear indentation of a person slept in it.
In the end a representative of the host came who kindly offered to take the sheets to her home, launder them and bring them back to. This was on Friday around 6pm and suggested that I use our own sheets instead, which we did. Due to a misunderstanding however, the sheets belonging to the airbnb never came back and we used our own sheets the entire time.
The mattress itself was sawn into a weird plastic case and because the old stained mattress protector was also taken away for laundering, sleeping in the bed was very hot and sweaty and felt like sleeping in a hospital bed.
The next day we've realised that the sheets in our daughter's bedroom were covered with the previous guest's hair. The towels had make up stains on them. I ended up washing all the towels and the sheets but we've never really gotten over the ick factor.
The house doesn't have air conditioning and wifi. It's very hot and stuffy despite having all the windows open and using the ceiling fans. We kept the windows open all the time due to the off putting smell of the place.
The kitchen pantry was go sticky that we didn't use it and also couldn't find a vacuum cleaner (nor could the host tell me where it was).
Unusually, the house has strange notes posted all over the walls, with "to do" and "not to do" and detailed instructions of recycling, and threats of extra charge if you don't recycle correctly or fill up the bins more than half way.
The owners live in a separate house on the same block and they are quick to run out if you leave your car "idle" on the drive way (because your daughter left her school lunch inside the house and you need to run back to find it).
Lastly, we were asked to arrive 2 hours later than the usual check-in time, but weren't given the same courtesy at the check in time. We were given dirty looks when we went back at 11am to collect our bike which we accidentally left behind in the garage.