Ultimately we had a great time during this stay. The place is truly a retreat and we would definitely stay again. It was very peaceful and felt private. Although neighbors are close, it didn't feel like it. It was a huge perk to be able to bring our pup as well.
Instruction recommendation:
- I'm used to staying in places where there's instructions on how to use appliances, loud/ quiet hours, etc. There were no instructions for how to turn on/ off things such as the pool lights (part of his email about using the remote, yes, but would be helpful to have a guide in the house as I found it easiest to turn it off by walking outside to the pool area instead of from the window), no instructions on which trash cans to use, where to take your dog for the restroom (self explanatory but would help people instead of having to guess), instructions for parking in the carport, where to leave dirty towels, if you have a preference on if guests use your laundry detergent (saw that there is some water filtration system set up).
Safety:
- The front door locks wiggle. This didn't prove to be an issue but doesn't make you feel safe.
- (preface: no harm came from this) Had a frightening experience with a past guest returning for a forgotten item that they arranged with the host. They came days later than expected which interrupted our stay. We reached out to the host who assured us that someone wasn't attempting to break in and sent a screenshot of their correspondence which stated that they were supposed to come prior to our stay. It unfortunately turned out that they had the same code to the main gate which didn't sit right with us. We aren't sure why they didn't get into the gate (it was a friend of the previous guest) but he definitely had the code to do so.
- The sliding doors are a bit old so they didn't lock immediately. You have to push the door with your body weight and then push the latch to ensure it latches on the door.
Cleanliness:
The main concerns we had were with cleanliness of the house. We understood that there would be wear and tear of the house especially seeing the various statements about it being an old house. We assumed that because he lived there from time to time that there would be some additional attention to detail.
- There were quite a few noticeable spider webs around the house. We noticed three in the main bedroom, the dining room chandelier, around the front door, and the curtains around the vespa.
- There was noticeable dust on the remote in the bedroom, the strings from the ceiling fan in the bedroom, and the curtains also appeared to not have been cleaned in a bit.