Renter beware
Well AirBnb’ers, this is a lesson to always listen to prior reviews!!!
We were looking into houses in San Diego and I came across this listing. The house looked updated and the pool looked nice, but the prior review was one star. I read the review and the guy sounded like he had legit complaints. More or less his main issue was with the management company, their service, and how they really just want to make money. I cut and pasted his review below. When I first read the review I saw one main issue was the pool cold and jacuzzi broken. I thought as long as those were fixed it would be all good so I booked it.
As for my experience, we arrived and check in was fine, and the place looked pretty good. They did a nice job of updating the property and the pool was spacious and nicely warmed (for a fee of course). The area is a standard, older residential area but the general area is pretty sketch with strip clubs and some seedy looking bums on the drive in. We were thinking it was fine since we just wanted to hang with our family and swim. But that night was rough. The master bedroom is next to the pool and the pool heater made a loud whining sound all night. Then in the middle of the night there was some loud banging sound that occurred near the bedroom where my daughter slept. She came running into our room to stay. Then in the morning there were some screeching parrots that woke us rwhen the sun came up and right after barely falling asleep. Later I saw that there’s a mini flock of 4 birds and they’re beautiful, but loud and they hang out in the area all day.
After that experience, we made the decision that this place was just not for us. Between the heater and my daughter’s fear, we knew we couldn’t stay any longer. We packed up and left and I let Vacasa know immediately that morning. Later I got a call from them saying that they would refund the pool heating cost and part of the cleaning costs. I fully understand that the letter of the contract says that we owed the full amount of our stay but if this was any hotel they’d cancel the rest of the reservation. I realize Airbnbs are not hotels but thought we could meet somewhere in the middle. I explained what happened and said I’d definitely pay for the cleaning costs (on top of all the fees) but thought it was fair to at least halve the room rate for the 3 days. I thought that was more than fair. The person said she’d have to check and would get back to me but I never got a call back. Days later when I called, I was told I’d only get the pool heating fees back ( I guess no cleaning fees now).
So that was my experience. Definitely disappointed, but in some ways I feel I’m lucky cause we only had 3 days booked. Can you imagine if I had booked a week and lost an entire weeks worth of money. My review isn’t even that bitter as I say the place isn’t half bad, but this management group is all about making money. I am not even a complainer and I know my Airbnb rating is very high as a renter. My advice: If you see the name Vacasa as the management group I’d be very wary, and you better understand that they are all about making money.
Here is the previous one-star review. Now there are two. Listen to your Airbnb people for their reviews!
From prior reviewer:
Overall the inside of the house was nice, but the listing was far from accurate.
1. Spa/Hot Tub was empty and broken on arrival - listed in the title and description of the listing
2. Heated Pool - extra fee but never requested or reached out to acknowledge whether we would like it heated. Also in the title and description
3. Entire house- ADU in the back yard and back door in garage went directly into that persons yard.
4. Location - was great location but both neighbors clearly do not want this to be a rental and have signs welcoming you as a visitor that say “houses are for homes and not for Vacation stays” - neighbors not the friendliness and not really welcoming.
5. Support - contacted Vacasa 4x to try to remediate the pool heat and spa; was consistently promised I would be reached out to. Never heard back with a resolution. Contacted AirBnB and they could also not get a resolution. Refund amount of 50% of the first day only of the 3-4 day trip.
I hate writing bad reviews, but this ad is not accurate and AirBnB would not accommodate any additional refunds. I hope Vacasa support and SeaBreeze rentals sees this to fix the terrible experience created in this stay.