We hope this honest review of our 1.5 month long stay will prompt the host to improve the experience for future guests. We’ve had dozens of positive experiences with Airbnb, but had a less-than-ideal time at this Airbnb for reasons below:
1) The unit was in poor condition. We arrived to find a kitchen ceiling leak, a broken chair with the back fallen off, an entirely different sofa than depicted covered in stains, just 2 of 4 burners working, only one cereal bowl in the cupboard, no blocking curtains, and advertised amenities like the fire pit and grill completely unusable. Though I’m sure our host didn’t intend this, we lost a lot of time fixing, buying items the unit was missing, or constructing replacement furniture our host shipped to us.
2) The listing was not as advertised. We expected our hosts to be available on-site, but instead the main house was occupied by an unannounced tenant who spared no effort to claim that shared amenities/spaces advertised on the listing were off limits to us. As a result, advertised areas such as the main garden area, deck, and gas grill were not in fact available amenities.
3) On a few occasions, we were wrongly accused of error or violation of policy, which severely diminished our experience. Ex: host claimed we’d left the grill unclean when we had certainly cleaned it; host accused us of our dog relieving himself in the back patio when he was not in fact; host said when our guests brought a dog it was in violation of one-pet-per-guest policy (which was not listed), etc, etc. The listing was also edited by the host mid-way through our stay with the updated policies after the fact. The reprimands were usually communicated via message at distance and based on secondhand info from her gardener or the other tenant, which made us feel like we were being watched while going about our day.
To her credit, when we raised the issues, our host did make efforts to educate the other tenant about shared spaces and to improve our stay shipping more patio furniture, a separate grill, and replacements for broken furniture. Indeed, the property was improved with the additions. We appreciated the efforts; however, we believe many of the issues could’ve been avoided from the beginning or at least better mediated had she simply been on-site to respond to them, as was advertised.
Otherwise, we loved the charming, verdant Atwater area and the walking distance to the main drag with its many restaurants and shops. With additional investment in the unit and updates to ensure accuracy of the listing, this Airbnb has potential. I do hope the host will see this as fair, constructive feedback.