Good from afar, far from good!
We chose the rustic beach cottage based on its previous reviews and we were drawn to the charm the photos showed. Sadly we were very disappointed. On arrival the smell of the place was not pleasant however we opened doors & windows and put on a fan to get some fresh air through. The biggest let down was that on using the toilet for the first time, we noticed the septic tank bubbling over, just outside the bathroom floor slab right next to where you shower. After inspecting the pump, power etc, I tried to contact the host who states to do so by text as her response will be quicker. This was at approx 4pm on a Saturday. I messaged her via SMS and AirBnB app to ask if this overflowing was normal. By 7pm there was no response so I phoned the host, only for the call to ring out and divert to voicemail, where I left a message. 11am Sunday I received a SMS response advising that the host was away camping, that it didn’t sound normal and she would contact a plumber. At this time, she offered for us to use the bathroom of the front house as this had now been vacated. We were glad to be out of the place for the afternoon and enjoyed a wine tour of Hawke’s Bay. On return to the cottage the smell in the bathroom was now foul, so once again I messaged the host to ask if the plumber had been and if the cleaner was able to clean the front house earlier, so we could use the bathroom. This was 9pm Sunday, we've now checked out and we still haven’t had a response. We high tailed it out of there as soon as we could in the morning.
Cleanliness of the place was completely lacking; cobwebs everywhere you looked which you expect in a cottage of this type, however, not in this amount – the place clearly hadn’t been cleaned properly in a long time. Mouse poo on the kitchen benches, dead spider and layer of dust on the drawers in the bedroom; completely lacking in care it seems. Complimentary milk in fridge was off, completely congealed so had obviously been there for a long time.
Parking out the front would ideally be asked of the people using the front house as they would be closer to their vehicle and those using the rear cottage have better access to theirs.
The bed was comfortable, so we have given it two stars for this reason!