Where do I start? I actually prefer to write positive reviews, because that does not only mean that we had a great stay, but it is also easier and more fun to write. Unfortunately this stay was very mixed. So I just write down the facts as they represented themselves to us.
Our very first impression of the house was good. It was while there was still daylight and since we had troubles with the tire pressure on our rental car, we just glanced through the rooms and then drove immediately to a tire shop to get it fixed and saw our friends in San Diego afterwards. So when we returned at night, we were faced with the following:
- half of the light switches didn't work (the living room was dark, one bedroom was dark (except for the closet light), in the other bedroom the light was flashing and even the corridor lamp between the living room and these rooms didn't react at all when we turned the switch.
- the mattresses in the room with the bunk beds were all covered with a plastic cover (I guess to protect it from bed wetting small children)
- the linen in the room with the two beds had serious stains
- the bed in the in the room with only one bed was actually flat on the floor and the linen had stains as well, which at least could be removed except for one smaller stain which was covered by the cushion. The walls in that room were also covered with old black cobbwebbs that apparently had only been half cleaned.
So you can imagine how the general mood of the family sank to zero, being faced with the options to either sleep on a mattress on the ground, on a mattress making plastic noise with every movement or on a dirty linen. I managed to find out how to make the flashing light stop flashing by detecting two tiny extra buttons on the light switch. When I increased the light level at some point the flashing stopped.
The fact that there was a sticker on the fridge kind of complaining about the rating system of AirBnb stating that 3 stars would only be appropiate if "major problems that should be improved" and 2 stars means "close it down at once" didn't contribute to creating a good impression regarding the attitude of the owners or management of this place. I have to admit that I was already taking a look at the AirBnB cancellation policies and considering to leave the next day.
Luckily for all of us some of the problemes were fixed on the next day around 3 pm when Ross came over. First he just tossed two light bulbs and a newly bought bed sheet and a lamp over to my kids in the living room (and apparently the expectation was that we fix all the issues by ourselves), but when I sent a message to the host that I have no clue how to change the light bulb in the lamp and fan combo in the living room he returned. Funnily enough just with his presence the lights in the bedroom and the hallway worked again. The living room ceiling light was unfixable though (probably needs an electrician to look at the cables) and with daylight we also found out why the small lamp in the living room didn't work either: it was simply not plugged in and after moving the couch away from the wall there was a socket within reach. But IMHO all of this is something that should have been checked before our arrival.
Ross was really nice and friendly and we had a great conversation and he was able to reverse our initial impression that nobody seemed to really care for the house.
Nonetheless we discovered more issues during the next days. None of them were big, but in total it just created a generally not so pleasant feeling.
For example:
- the house offers 7 beds for a total of 8 people, but the dining table in the kitchen only has 3 chairs, 6 knives and 6 spoons.
- the cushions for the seating outside in the garden were dirty and one was even lying on the washing machine instead of being placed on the sofa
- the washing machine looked pretty rusty and while it worked for washing the new bed sheet, which gave us the confidence to wash our own clothes in it, it unfortunately stopped right in the middle of that second laundry load
- when we had run the dishwasher the dishes came out dirty. So we had to wash them manually.
- the vacuum cleaner hadn't much effect when my wife tried to vacuum the floor with it
- the was only one standard sized aircon in the living room for the entire house. We didn't really need it, since you could cool the house down by opening the windows in the evening, but on a hot day you might have a problem.
Having said all that on the positive side the internet was lightning fast and the neighborhood surprisingly quiet after 11 pm. You wouldn't hear anything from the tram looping through that area or from the highways and even on a Saturday night there wasn't much going on in the area. So you could sleep with an open window protected by mosquito screens. Ok, there is a weird sounding rooster making some noise at dawn, but nature's sounds don't really bother us in general. Parking was also easy: either inside the gate or right in front of it.
So would we recommend staying in the house:
if it stays like it is: no!
But if the host improves on the cleanliness of the linens, the walls and the outside cushions and fixes some other aesthetics and more regularly checks the condition of the appliances and lighting, you can definitely have a nice time in the