After not seeing our family for a year we decided to fly from different parts of the country and meet up in Catalina Island for 3 nights. The cost to rent this house was $1,000 per night - approx. $3,000 total for 3 nights. The total was more than our mortgage on our house for a month but we thought we would splurge since the location of the home was prime and it was a special occasion for our family.
Upon arrival in the home, we found it to be completely inhabitable. The carpeting was black with stains all over. There was thick dust on the fan blades, baseboards, refrigerator table and countertops. Mold lined the caulk in the showers and where the floor grout was supposed to be white, it was black instead. There were lights out in the kitchen and bathrooms and one of the toilets continued to run. There was not hot water in one of the bathrooms. The inside of the dishwasher was covered in rust. Paint was coming off on the walls and staircase and where it was patched did not match the original paint. To top it off, the sign at the front door stated, "shoeless home." Are they crazy? None of us would dare put our bare feet on any part of the floor because the home was so dirty! I wish we could add pictures to this review so you could see for yourself because we documented everything.
I would not recommend this home to my worst enemy. The cost of the home was not refundable. Even so, we immediately began searching for a new place to stay. Unfortunately, there was no hotel nor home available on the entire island except for the campgrounds. Had it not been pouring rain we would have moved to the campgrounds. We stayed out of the house and only came back for sleeping - we slept in our clothes.
We spoke to the management company (Catalina Island Vacation Rentals) who came by to replace the lights, the running toilet and fireplace. They agreed that the house was dirty but only offered to refund us 50% of our cleaning fee. We are left perplexed at how this management company, airbnb and the homeowners can, with good conscious, rent out this home. For $1,000 per night, the home needs to be up to par and at the very least clean. Stay away!