This listing has some good things but also some concerns.
First the good things:
- Large. Master Bedroom and bath take up entire 3rd floor. Huge closets.
- Quite attractive inside (assuming you like modern). Looks just like the photos.
- Really clean.
- Great location; can walk to Venice Beach and Albert Kinney Drive.
- They had things we needed; soap, tissues, etc. Also a bottle of wine and a couple of beers were waiting for us.
But now the concerns:
- Host not that respectful of tenants. After we signed up (and paid) we got an email insisting that we read a bunch of rules and respond "in order to access our reservation". Is that even legal? When I responded online (through Airbnb messaging) I was told to "check your email". Meaning I had to respond via email outside the AirBnb messaging system.
- Can be *very* loud in high winds. There are some large bamboo plants next to the house. If you get a high winds they slam and scrape against the metal roof and can be amazingly long. . Louder than you might think possible. All night long. I mean even my teenager had trouble sleeping (and he sleeps through anything). This was only a problem on one evening; if there is no wind there is no noise. In fact, when there is no wind the house is actually really quiet and peaceful.
- Strange, annoying check-in process. I was told at first check in time was between 1 and 8pm. Then laster I was asked for what time I would arrive. I told them it was hard to know for sure because I was driving about 6 hours to get there and we could hit traffic. I offered to text them (or call them) when I was getting close. The host I needed to give them a 2 hour window. Notifying when I got close was not an option. I was also informed if I was late there would be a $100 or $200 fee. The Host said, quote: "We can not have someone all day to deliver the house". So gave them a 2 hour window. Next the person who was supposed to meet me (not the host who is not in the country) told me I needed to give her an exact time I would get there, not a 2 hour window. She said to give the last possible time and if I got there early I could just wait for her. Well I have a car full of people I don't want to have to wait around so I pushed back. Offered again to text them when I got close. Finally she said, well there are keys in a lockbox. Here is a code. You can go inside and wait for me. Why not do that in the first place? Apparently they don't want you to go inside until they are there. Whole thing was really a pain. Plus it was a bit concerning.
- There are a number of small maintenance issues. We were told not to use the garbage disposal because sometimes it fails. Some the large (6 foot high) pull out shelves are not attached well and I think they might fall off. In the master shower it was hard to set the temperature. There were some other things. These are all fairly minor but add up.
- Instruction manual lacks in places. For example, not clear how to work the tvs. I eventually figured it out. The huge TVs are fantastic by the way, and once you get the tvs to work there are many channels (I was able to watch my team play in the NCAA March Madness and it was great).
- Parking around back is very tight (for our mini-van at least).
- The street this building is on is not that nice.
- There are black out shades in the master bedroom. They cover most of the windows but two large triangular windows at the top have no shades and plenty of light will come in during the morning. Did not bother us; depends on how dark you need it.
I really was not sure how to rate this place. The attitude of the host was really not ideal. But the place is overall pretty good (with the caveats above) and has a great location for Venice. It is expensive, but it is large. You may have a wonderful time here, but make sure you consider my comments.