Here's an objective review based on our experience.
Pluses:
- Location of the home is awesome, close to beaches, restaurants, and shopping
- Hosts are good with communication. A response would be received usually within less than a few hours.
- photos of the decor of the home are fairly accurate
- remodeled kitchen with enough supplies for cooking
Cons:
- The reality is that this is an older home. The bathroom needs some TLC. We discovered something that looked like mold spots on the ceiling, dirty grout, and the vents were covered in dust and probably hasn't been cleaned in quite some time. Just don't look up at the ceiling:)
- We wanted to use the grill and Keurig, but avoided doing so after discovering that the grill is pretty gross as well as the coffee maker
- Ceiling fans were dusty and in general, it seems the home wasn't thoroughly dusted before we arrived
- We washed all the sheets and blankets on our first day there, simply because they really didn't smell clean. Owner said that the cleaner washed all the sheets, but there was still a linger smell of not clean sheets and blankets/comforters. One plus that I didn't expect was that the owner addressed this immediately and refunded us the cleaning fee for our trouble.
- Given Covid situation, we expected everything to be pretty spotless; however, we didn't experience this.
- We were there during late December, so the evenings get cold in LaJolla. The heat ONLY works in the front room. The bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen were freezing throughout the day.
- For the amount that we paid (and I'm sure prices were increased due to the last week of December), we expected a cleaner and warmer home.
Prior to booking, we fell in love with the location, photos of the home and the reviews that were provided. But the stay fell a bit short. Despite this, we did create plenty of fun memories with the family.