The location is wonderful, just a short walk to the Santa Monica main street and the beach. Mariann and Mark are very thoughtful and provide a very nice breakfast (including even fresh berries). The first night we had trouble sleeping in the bed since the apparently older mattress had a dip in the middle, but Mariann was very quick in addressing this and provided a new mattress the very next night. Quite kind and attentive.
Unfortunately there were a number of other aspects that made it difficult for us to feel comfortable at this AirBnb:
The walls of the small house are very thin, so there is very little sense of privacy. One can hear various noises from throughout the house, including from the other bedrooms and the bathroom (which we were sharing with 4 other adults). The toilet has a problem with overflowing which we were told had to do with the amount of toilet paper being used, but I have it on good authority that this is a common problem in Santa Monica involving tree roots when the drains are not regularly cleaned.
We were not aware that there would be construction going on during our visit which meant that there was no beautiful garden as shown in the pictures and that we would be sharing one bathroom. There was also some noise, which was tolerable but not what we were expecting out of an idyllic beach vacation.
In general the house was not particularly clean with a fair amount of clutter, a slightly unpleasant smell throughout the house and a view of cobwebs from the kitchen table. All the other airbnbs where we have stayed were sparkling clean in comparison.
Judging from the other glowing reviews (the reason we decided to stay here), I can only imagine that we value a sense of privacy / cleanliness more than other guests.