Beautiful house but lack of personal privacy.
The House:
Ample parking, well situated and extremely clean. Great backyard, views, fireplace, kitchen and seating. However, downstairs bedrooms can easily hear talking + footsteps above and long list of rules regarding clean up.
The Camera:
We saw the description about a camera and queried the host about it pre-arrival. Host said it was a “front door camera” which made us assume it was outside. It was not, instead inside pointing towards the stairs, bedrooms and hallway area. Host mentioned it did not record, audio not listened to and was only used at check in / checkout to monitor party size.
1. Camera inside made our guests uncomfortable. We would have not stayed if kids were with us. If going to/from shower to bedrooms privacy is also a concern. Possibility of recording or camera being compromised/hacked is too great and spent some time worrying about this.
2. Audio: Host called us at 6:45 pm on a Saturday to say we had 2 noise complaints and to turn it down. We had one JBL indoor speaker, all doors and windows closed playing chill music indoors while dinner was being made. We believe audio was being listened to as both neighbors were not home and all lights turned off. We could not hear our own music from front and backyards.
3. Camera was used at various times throughout the night. At 9:30 pm we saw the night-vision red light turning on and off. The model provided shows this only comes on when being monitored. This again contradicts Hosts initial claims.
The Host:
Beautiful house but did not make the house feel like a home. Instead, our conversations and movements were restricted from being watched and listened to. Warnings about indoor music at 6:45 pm on a weekend and warnings about no parties contradicts House description about being available for hens parties (ours was a dinner cook-off between couple friends!). Unreasonable expectation of noise levels, so much so that we could not even go outside or use the fire pit for fear of talking to loud and being kicked out. We felt micromanaged and the feeling the AirBnB is in too worrisome of a neighbourhood (older generation), resulting in walking on eggshells. The host threatened to call the Police at 7 pm when we were in the middle of a quiet dinner!