Akiko contacted me on the same day as my reservation, a week before and the day of, all of which were positive conversations. The entire house was very clean and quiet. She had left some Evian and fruit out as a welcome to the house. The bed was a Tempurpedic which is what I have at home and since I was there for a Karate seminar it helped me get the proper rest that I needed. The shower was very clean and the water was hot and powerful, it felt great on my sore muscles. There were other people in the house but I saw them in passing only and I was never worried about my stuff. On my last evening I finally got enough time to talk to her and she is very nice, she even offered me some of the food she had just cooked for herself (which smelt amazing). She has an older dog who is very sweet and doesn't bother anyone. Akiko arranged to have a cab for me at 8:30am but my plans changed and she had it ready for me at 8:00am. The neighborhood is very nice and located close to the bus line and various restaurants and watering holes. There's no TV in the room but I just used her fast Wi-Fi and watched Netflix on my phone. I don't think I would want to stay anywhere else in Santa Monica!