The good: the location is great, house is lovely, convenient, charming—a vintage bungalow full of mid century furniture. The kitchen is nice, shower water pressure is incredible, window ACs cool the whole house which is great! Overall, a convenient stay.
The downside: I hate to leave anything approximating negative review but I can’t ignore some aspects of our stay I wish I’d known before I rented.
Firstly, the ants. It’s not a minor issue. They’re in every room, and there are almost no traps. After 2-3 days, we searched and found a few under the sink which we set out and which were immediately swarmed, improving the situation slightly as at least we knew where they’d be. I only knew to expect the ants from other peoples’ reviews. Whatever is being used by the management to address the issue is not sufficient, sadly. I would not think it appropriate to rent a property with this many bugs. We kept all food in plastic bags on the counter or in the fridge but they were still all over the kitchen and bathroom sinks, sometimes crawling on our arms and legs when we sat on the couch. It was a bummer.
I understand that this is the nature of Airbnb now, especially ones not managed by owners, but it’s inescapable when you’re staying in a listing where there’s an attempt to maximize profits at the expense of upkeep and basic guest amenities.
I’m not talking about the vintage charm, or old (totally functional, clean) appliances. We don’t mind that at all—The curtains in the bedrooms are falling off, held by broken command strips, or tied to the blinds themselves (something that would be an amazingly easy to fix but is left broken). The bed in the right bedroom has a spring mattress so hard I wouldn’t ever dream of including it in a rental property. The toilet paper provided was very limited and two of the rolls were ripped and obviously molded/mildewed with black spots. We bought our own immediately. Things like this add up and if they were to be tended to, would take minor effort and almost no cost to fix. It can make guests feel that they are not valued when they’re not.
Hard to say whether we’d recommend this stay to someone. Maybe for a shorter visit. Honestly, the ants alone would discourage me from renting again, but the space is otherwise lovely. All depends on what matters to you.