Reconsider if you are looking for a place to stay for more than two days (we stayed for 30 whole days).
This place is a family home (maybe a memorial home as it is kept PRISTINE, but if you are sensitive about having pictures of deceased relatives on the walls in multiple areas and lit candles below them you may want to look for another place to stay).
I understand this is a long review, but you might wanna stick around…
My boyfriend and I both wrote out reviews and made sure we didn’t read each other’s until we were ready to send them,
*** MINE:
Overall, our stay was not great.
In short, the house was clean but it’s almost kept TOO clean to the point of discomfort for the guests. Maybe it’s because we stayed there longer than we were welcome but the hosting and communication definitely left much to be desired.
Hosting:
One suggestion I have is to write ALL the unspoken rules down on paper near where they’re needed so that guests know what to do.
We barely saw Simon, our host, during the entire stay and had to deal with the homeowners ourselves.
That being said, Tiran and his girlfriend had MANY particularities and Tiran is not shy to tell you about them.
It got to the point where everything we did felt uncomfortable because it felt more like you were crashing on someone’s couch instead of renting a room for over $1000+ for the whole month.
We can take a few rules as we understand this was their home even though we’re paying to stay, but it was the attitude that accompanied the rules that made us VERY uneasy in this home.
It made us feel like we were kicking it on the couch at an uncle’s house.
I live about 10 blocks from this place and my partner who traveled all the way from Canada 2000 miles away felt as unwelcome as I did. It definitely didn’t feel like a home away from home even for me.
Here are some added rules I can remember. Each interaction we had with Tiran unlocked another until close to the last bit of our stay:
1. Do not use “cream” on the bed. We were asked not to use any creams on the bed since (other?) guests prefer cotton. They told us that they use cotton sheets for guests even though it was our first day staying at their place. In short, watch what you do so as not to stain the bed. We had brought 4 blankets to use so that we can cover my pillow (my bf who stayed with me doesn’t use any lotion after shower) even without that request. We of course made sure to accommodate this for Tiran as we wanted to be good guests.
2. Do not leave the closet light on overnight. I wanted a night light and used the closet light. That was second request Tiran had. That was only the second day.
3. Do not turn on the lights at the dining table during daytime. Tiran’s girlfriend was evidently mad when my boyfriend turned their dining table lights on and so she was banging plates at the sink. She then hastily opened the blinds that let us know we struck a nerve yet again. This was only the fourth day. Just a day after, Tiran asked us to switch to the second dining table (the one they usually use) even though his girlfriend had asked us to sit on the table separate from the one they normally use.
4. Simon’s listing says that you can do laundry until 11 pm. Not included anywhere in the listing is the fact that the lady of the house (Tiran’s girlfriend) seems to prefer you tell her when you do the laundry. When we did the laundry without telling her, she was enraged and yelled for Tiran to come up the stairs. They came down shortly after that obviously arguing about what just happened and talking about us in their language. I don’t need to tell you why that’s rude. The listing doesn’t say we needed to notify anyone of doing laundry. It only says “its use is not allowed after 11pm.” I still don’t understand why that was a problem.
5. Make sure you use the microwave lid. We were stopped in the middle of heating food for it. We understood, but #4 happened on the same day. This was when we started feeling even more uncomfortable in the home and felt like we were about to walk on eggshells until the rest of our stay. NOT a nice feeling.
6. Make sure you ask them where the recycling bin is. There was a can of Bubly that wasn’t ours and they assumed it was us who placed it in the wrong area of the kitchen. Tiran also had something to say about our cereal box. He needed it closed even though we roll the actual plastic down IN the box. Again, VERY particular and it seemed like they assumed the worst about guest behavior.
7. DO NOT leave food OR foot creams anywhere they can see. We were told that there was a stain on the pillow after they saw a chocolate bar on the night stand. We explained to Simon that it was only for emergencies since I am diabetic. We knew there was no way a stain could have landed on the pillow like they claimed and so we challenged it by asking if they needed compensation. We thought things were fine and the couple was just being particular yet again (this time with assumption) as Simon said and I quote “He didn't see the bar; he almost always has something to note about cleanliness, haha..” However, before our stay was over, another “stain” had supposedly shown up and this time on the bedsheets. When Tiran pointed to it, there was NO mark on the area he