I have taken my time and considered carefully what I would write in this review as I am not trying to damage anyone's business or be nasty. I would simply like to accurately relay my experience of this property.
The house itself is great. The pool area, cabana etc are great but that really is where it ends.
The issues started before we even arrived. Brad from Peninsular Escapes rang me a couple of days before we were due to arrive to inform me that the solar pool heater had broken down and that they would be unable to get the replacement parts before our arrival. We had 8 nights / 9 days booked. Brad offered me a small refund on our booking to cover the inconvenience of the pool not being heated during our stay. I was very disappointed in this and felt that during our stay someone surely would have been able to come and fix it in that time. Wasn’t to be. During our stay the weather was sunny but not very hot which meant the pool stayed like ice water the whole time and we couldn’t use it at all. The main reason I booked this house was for the pool. We purchased pool toys etc just for our stay. There was a newly installed heated SPA, but after a few days we were unable to use it due to the terrible stench coming from it as no one attended to clean the SPA until the day before we left. The guy who came also let himself in completely unannounced which was not okay with me. There was no communication that he would be coming or knock on the door to let us know he was there.
The house was not very clean. The outdoor setting had stains, cigarette burns and bird poo all over the cushions. The outdoor table was dirty when we arrived and I had to wipe the whole outdoor area down myself on arrival. There were discarded cigarette butts in some of the pot plants on the outdoor decking as well. The pool area sun beds covers were also stained and had bird poo on them. The beds themselves were falling apart as the wood was rotting and did not feel safe to lie on.
There are two TV’s on the wall in the downstairs double bedrooms. One doesn't work at all and has no remote, and the other is not tuned in to anything so completely useless to watch anything on. I tried to tune it in but it wasn’t picking up any channels.
The downstairs bedrooms also had cobwebs and a few spiders floating around. The carpet in my room had a few dead leaves in there and felt like there wasn’t an adequate freshen up done before we arrived. My bed had a crappy old electric blanket on it whose wires were digging into me on the first night so i had to remove it as it was extremely uncomfortable to sleep on. The thing looked like it was about 20 years old.
The knives and fork in the kitchen still had the bar code stickers on them. The plates are tired and need updating. The wine and scotch glasses were nice though. There was decent kitchen items provided. Salt, sugar, etc. There is a nice big dining table and a large very comfy cream leather lounge albeit a bit old and tired looking.
The pool table in the garage was covered in dust and ruble and dead bugs! One of the black poles on the stairs is broken.
The compendium to help us navigate the appliances was not updated. It has a Delonghi coffee machine on there and the house actually has a Nespresso machine. So it took us forever to work out how to use it. When we went to check out on new years day the compendium had kicked me out as it didn’t take my late check out into account so i was unable to fully read through the departure instructions. I managed to find some info from the air bnb booking luckily.
But the worst and most concerning thing of all is the day I returned home from my stay I broke out in bit marks all over my back and front of my body. I initially thought they were mosquito bites but they were on my bottom and lower regions as well. I slept in pyjamas the night before I left so it would have been impossible for mosquitos to bite me through my underwear. Plus in my entire stay up until then I had not seen one mosquito in my room or received any bites of any kind before this. I soon came to discover that these bites were actually Bed Bug bites! These bites were consistent with the typical bites these bugs leave which is several bites all in a row and larger red bites. They were extremely itchy and uncomfortable and I was covered in them. It was a lot hotter in the last two days before we left and i suspect the increase in heat caused them to go from being dormant to becoming active. I contacted Brad to advise him of what had happened as well as sending photos of my bites. He did offer me a small refund to compensate for this but after seeking legal advice, I felt that this was not adequate to cover the continuing discomfort I was experiencing. And also the stress of having to go through this. Brad refused to compensate me further suggesting that i bought the bugs into the property myself on my clothing or luggage! I have never had bed bugs in my house or even know anyone to have them in my entire life. He also said my claim was completely unsubstantiated, which was very insulting and in my view taking no accountability for what I was, and am still going through. I questioned their cleaning and fumigation