Following our recent stay at this property, my wife and I were left extremely disappointed with what was meant to be our honeymoon (and Christmas and birthday celebration). We had notified the host prior to our arrival of our plans to elope in Tasmania, and that it would be our honeymoon during our stay at her property, which left us even more disappointed with the following issues we experienced during our stay.
Firstly, the level of cleanliness was highly disappointing, particularly given the listing has an ‘Enhanced Cleaning Status’ as part of its advertised features. When we walked in, there were dead flies everywhere, dusty surfaces and a smell of drains throughout. In addition, the barbeque, which we were really looking forward to using, had been left in a filthy condition! With very limited cleaning equipment left in the property (other than glass cleaner and toilet bleach), my only option was to clean the barbeque with water and toilet paper on Christmas morning. To add to this, a filthy pot filled with used cigarette butts and dirty brown water (neither of us smoke) had been left on the centre of the outdoor table. The table and deck itself were also dirty, with bird droppings and dirty marks evident throughout. It felt like the terrace and barbecue hadn’t been cleaned for a period of time, which as one of its key selling points, was a huge disappointment! Arriving late on Christmas eve, I spent 2 hours cleaning on Christmas Day until it was in a satisfactory state of cleanliness.
In addition to the cleanliness, we also experienced several other issues which severely impacted our stay. The bedroom does not have adequate blind solutions for sleeping, meaning as soon as the sun starts to rise, the bedroom is filled with light, waking both myself and my pregnant wife up at 5.30am every morning. We both left the property sleep deprived, which is particularly not ideal for a ‘honeymoon’, and certainly not for my pregnant wife! Another shock was the TV turning on randomly at 3am during our first night, which gave my wife a huge fright as she thought someone had broke in and led to both of us not being able to sleep on Christmas Eve.
We did notify the host on boxing day of our main concerns - (not wanting to disrupt their Christmas Day), and received a very defensive response, not acknowledging any of our complaints. All in all, the above ruined our honeymoon completely, leaving us tired, disappointed and out-of-pocket. We have stayed in many Air B&Bs, including during our recent Tasmanian trip, and this was by far the worst we've experienced so far. We felt the host had put next to no effort to ensure we had a special or enjoyable stay, and displayed the ‘bare minimum’ hosting experience and inadequate cleaning.