TL:DR: Overall, solid 5/10. Some key components are missing, communication was lacking, but the house is very cute, clean, well stocked, and comfy. It gave us the ease of access and safety in our trip we needed, but you will not find complete privacy here. Hot tub payment situation needs to be revisited.
This is a very honest review from a hospitality professional (I know, I am biased) looking to have a quick weekend trip with my boyfriend and younger autistic brother. I’m leaving this review not to be cruel in any way, but to hopefully give future guests better visibility and provide some useful feedback.
1. Alycia is a semi-responsive host. We asked her multiple questions prior to coming that just never got answered. She seemed to respond to about 1/3 of our messages. Communication was rough overall - even questions that were answered never really made sense. I asked if we could pay to check in early to make a bus tour in downtown LA due to traffic, and never really got a yes/no answer, just “the traffic before 4 is usually fine unless you have a slow Uber driver”. Not very clear responses.
2. The guest house front windows look directly into the back of the main house. Pool guest house is up real close to the main house where people are living. When we arrived, I got a message saying “I see it is 3 adults” (which she knew already from the reservation), which gave me the feeling that she/the people in the main house were looking through our windows. The blinds in the main house kept being opened and closed throughout the day. I was really hoping for some privacy by booking an Airbnb over a hotel, and we did not get that at all. We felt watched constantly. We noticed at least one massive security camera that overlooks the pool area.
3. Additionally, Alycia came out to the pool area and talked to my brother (again, he has autism) while he was in the hot tub and we were inside. This made us very uncomfortable, ESPECIALLY because my brother’s communication skills are extremely specific, and he felt uneasy talking to a stranger who randomly came out of the main house to talk to him. We were not interested in interacting with anyone on the property during our stay or expecting anyone to be in the pool area with us. There is a lack of crucial trust and boundaries between the host and the guests for this to work as an Airbnb.
4. We were asked to pay $25 VIA CASHAPP OR CASH (which does NOT seem right to me, and Airbnb even has a message telling you to only pay through the app, but we really wanted this hot tub so we just went with it) every single time we wanted the hot tub heated. By the way, that is $25 for EVERY 3 hours it is on. If it is on for 4 hours, that’s $50, because any incremental time over 3 hours incurs another charge. An unofficial charge, not secured through Airbnb, but a direct cash payment into her pocket. Maybe this is just an LA thing, but definitely not what we were expecting when it said “$25 fee for hot tub”. 😕 our budget was a working budget, and it felt like Alycia was trying to get as much money out of us as she could, in an unprofessional way.
5. The house is very beautiful, the property is lovely. The outdoor pool area is just straight up awesome. I wish there was more privacy for us to swim and enjoy the evening without being right up against the back windows of the main house, but there’s tons of seating and the mezzanine area around the pool has a great vibe.
6. Be aware that the guest bedroom, even when the door is closed, has a LARGE opening in the wall and you do NOT have complete privacy in the bedroom. The whole guesthouse is one large room. This was definitely something we were bummed about - we wanted privacy from my brother, another reason why we did not book a hotel. If you are a party of more than 2, I hope you’re all very comfortable with each other because the only space you will get to yourself is in the bathroom.
7. There is NO central heat or air in the guest house. There are 2 tiny heaters that take hours to heat the house. We did finally find a heater in the bathroom (it’s attached to the vent, middle bathroom light switch) but we weren’t informed at all this was there and slept the first night in a cold house.
8. The neighborhood is extremely nice and easy to get to, Ubers are cheap, the streets are nice, and we could order fast delivery here. The community felt safe, it was quiet, definitely preferred staying here over the city. We felt welcome. We talked to a few Uber drivers who picked us up at the house and they agreed it’s one of the nicest areas to stay in.
9. Pull out bed and the bedroom bed are both actually pretty comfortable, which was such a relief, as Airbnb beds can be awful sometimes. We slept very well here.
10. There are 3 stairs in the house to get up to the bathroom and bedroom and stairs in front of the front door to get in the house (just a general tip for anyone in a wheelchair or needs handicap accessible).
11. Finally, a message to ALL airbnbs: STOP asking your guests to take out trash. We pay a cleaning fee. That includes emptying garbage bins and taking the bags to your dumpsters. That is not our job. We’re not staff, we are guests.
Thanks for reading, hope this is helpful!