Before I booked this place, I read a lot of reviews but unfortunately I didn’t have as pleasant an experience due to unfortunate incidents during our stay. Let’s start with location, without traffic this is about 35 min from LAX but with traffic it was 1h + due to Friday afternoon traffic. Located in a lower socioeconomic class neighborhood but never felt unsafe, surrounding neighbors were families and older couples. Less than half a block is a huge cemetery, which I didn’t realize til I got there, but if you don’t mind that then it’s not a problem and the place didn’t have any paranormal activity Haha. The rental definitely looks better on the inside than the outside, which is probably why there weren’t any picture of the listing from the outside. Let me give a pros/ cons list: Pros:
- Communication- Ola was quick to respond and followed through on providing cleaning supplies I inquired about upon booking
- Collaborative- Ola worked with me and took my requests into consideration when encountered a problem regarding other tenants not parking in correct area and blocked our dedicated parking spot.
- Newly decorated
- Washer/dryer on site
- Clean
- Central AC
- Fans provided but not great quality
- Provided toiletries- paper towels, Lysol wipes, bathroom spray, trash bags
- kitchen well stocked- though we didn’t use it much- Keurig with coffee pods, creamer, Splenda , pots, pans, plates, glasses, mugs, bowls, cooking utensils, and silverware. I think I saw a wine opener. Pretty much had everything you would need if you were planning on cooking, which we didn’t do any during this trip.
Family friendly- had family games- we played cards, uno, what do you meme . All rooms had a smart tvs with streaming options.
Cons:
- Notified freezer didn’t work on arriving to airport. Which I didn’t think was going to be a problem until I realized we needed it for our ice packs and ice for our cooler. So we had to buy ice each day. Then first night, we came home to a huge puddle on the floor because the freezer leaked out. Had to clean up a huge 5ft wide puddle of water with the paper towels and towels, which thankfully Ola came and replenished the next day. Just hassle and last thing I wanted to have to do after a long day.
- Parking issue- there are 3 units on site that are rented out. Listing indicated there’s one dedicated space and plenty of street parking. The garage didn’t have any marked lines but common sense told me I would park as far to one side as possible; however, that wasn’t the common shared idea with other renters. We arrived home after a long day of site seeing to find one renter parked so far in the middle of the garage we could barely park. Everyone had to get out of the car in order to park otherwise passengers would be trapped. Marked parking lines should be painted in garage so there’s no confusion on how to park, got 2 door bang dents on our door. Then the 3rd renter parked behind us so every morning or night we had to call them to move their car so we can get in and out. Just an annoying inconvenience when you are tired and have to wait to park.
-Ceiling leak- third night we came home to another puddle in front of fridge but wasn’t the freezer, this time it was the ceiling. Apparently the AC is new and hadn’t been used since start of summer rentals and was leaking through a light fixture. Again we had to use more towels to clean it up, used the kitchen pots to catch the water. Made me feel unsafe and thinking how long this was an issue as the water could cause mold, or weaken the structure of the property.
- Toilet paper - we only had one roll of toilet paper but Ola came and provided more the next day.
- Not enough towels- Ola came and provided more as well since we had to use a lot for the leak.
- Closet rod kept falling- cheap shower rods are used in the closets, and the middle room rod kept falling when we attempted to hang our clothes or towels.
- Noisy- every morning we woke up at the crack of dawn because of sounds of roosters and dogs. We stayed Friday- Tuesday and unfortunately the street was full of parties on the weekend, the neighbors were blasting their music so loud our walls and windows were vibrating. Luckily they stopped the music at 0130 but if you are a light sleeper like us, then this wouldn’t be for you. So our stay didn’t include a lot of much needed rest and recovery. I were sleeping at 0100 and waking up at 0530/0600 due to animals. Maybe double pane windows would help, but the listing is definitely not sound proof.
- Beds- springy and not comfortable after a long day of walking and hiking. The air mattress was actually more comfortable than any of the beds. For me good quality air mattresses are a must for vacation rentals.
- No ventilation in restroom, so it would get hot and steamy and only way to let it out would be to open the window, which I didn’t like doing because it let bugs in. It’s weird to me there’s no vent switch.
- Safety concern- floors uneven and creaky in certain areas throughout the listing, mold concerns due to the leaking. There are stairs to get up to rental and no railing so had to be careful. I actually tripped and fell on the stairs leading to washer and dryer. They’re small and steep. One of the back renters fell too for same reason… the steps.
All in all, I personally wouldn’t recommend staying here unless the aforementioned was addressed and fixed, but even then I