Stay Salty was a good house as it was clean, had some comforts and was very close to the beach. I stayed for 2 weeks and extended a few more days for my convenience. I’ll start with some positives- the house has a TV room with a big smart TV, it’s very convenient for the beach and Suffolk Park Bakery. You could hear the ocean from the house. It looks pretty and has nice artwork. The kitchen and a couple bathrooms had been recently updated and looked very nice.
Let me get into the details of my experience that were less pleasant. Stay Salty was new to the roster for the management so they didn’t know much about it nor had they finished it or tested it out, it seemed. It felt like it was rushed to market as it was missing curtains, hand soaps, tissues, small trash bins for the bathrooms and extra toilet paper, among other things. There were missing bits in the kitchen as well, the pots and pans weren’t great apart from 1 pan and 1 pot. The oven didn’t work, nor did the igniter for the stovetop. The bathtub was filthy and there was no bath plug upon arrival. They had to send someone for the stove and bath. The stovetop/oven saga didn’t get resolved in the 2.5 weeks I was there. I learned early on in my stay to limit my interaction with A Perfect Stay because they were not very interested in being hospitable or accommodating. There were at least a dozen different people manning the emails and most seemed untrained. I asked for a point person on the second day, after speaking with Sarah who seemed to be an exceptional staff member there. They didn’t give me that so I dealt with many different people when I’d message them. They consistently took all communications off of AirBnB and into email so I couldn’t go through that channel to streamline things. I’d have to duplicate my communication by email as per Travis’ routine response stating that. I can imagine that’s some kind of attempt to not be tracked by AirBnB for their mishaps and mismanagement. The bedrooms were cute but the master had no curtains so it was exposed by a tinted window next to the bed. The singles room had only 1 lamp by 1 bed. The top bedroom had a creaky bed and no bedside lamp or tables at all. The dimmer light swtithes for the lighting didn’t work. The lights in the house were all fitted with cool lightbulbs which made the night lighting overbearing. I recommend the team gets the screen door fixed so it slides easily, fixing the oven and igniter, providing hand soaps, umbrella, lights outside the gate (!!), paper towels, beach towels and a hairdryer. Having better hospitality when named A Perfect Stay would be highly advised. 1-2 point people per property, make sure property is in working order, well stocked, and ensure comfort and privacy. Some welcome snacks would’ve been appreciated. When I checked in they had the wrong wifi password written in the book and in the office. I was calling different numbers to get help with this. I had to speak to an "emergency" number that was left and they told me they wouldn’t be able to sort this issue out. As we were ending the call I decided to check the back of the modem and it was then we discovered this oversight. They had the wrong password. They also had given the wrong instructions for the where the safekey box was. Honestly, it was stressful dealing with the management so I took care of my own needs, buying hand soaps and other such things that should’ve been provided. When I asked if it was possible to get a hairdryer the response was that it wasn’t listed as an amenity. I knew that. I was asking to borrow one. That was a no that could’ve been handled better. It’s actually an inexpensive item to provide.
A Perfect Stay provided a free cleaning at the midpoint of my stay because I stayed for 2+ weeks. I was messaged about the timing and told I could change the time to suit me if needed. I asked to change the time and was responded to days later telling me they couldn’t/wouldn’t be changing the time of the cleaning. In actuality, they had rescheduled it to the later time I had asked for. I appreciated that but was confused by the way the email was written. When I asked about a random man coming into the property to delivery big bags to the door, they said it’s "normal", it’s the clean sheets and towels. It may be normal for them but in hospitality you need to make sure your guests are aware of people coming onto the property. Your protocols need to be clearly stated for the guests’ comfort. When notified of issues, it shouldn’t need to be said but i recommend not dismissing your guest’s comments or requests. This house was expensive to rent, the service should match the cost and standard of the property. I spent a lot of money with no discounts or refunds offered for the shortcomings. I expected much better service from A Perfect Stay.