So there is a story to tell here. First off let me say the cottage was fantastic. The location could not be beat and the amenities were great. We especially appreciated the beach toys and chairs along with the bikes. Our son loved the beach and it was nice to have all the things one would need for a day at the beach at our fingertips. The only thing I would suggest is child proofing the kitchen cabinets as our son was always getting into them, but it's a minor thing and nothing that had a negative affect on our stay.
Now we get to the story. With 2 days left of our trip there was a plumbing snafu that made the showers unusable. I told the host about it in the morning and later that morning they had a plumber out to try and resolve the issue. Unfortunately the plumber was unable to fix the issue so without prompting, prodding, or cajoling our host immediately offered to find and pay for an alternate place to stay. They found us a room at a near by resort and we ended up staying there for the last two nights. They could have simply told us to deal with the plumbing issues but they went above and beyond to ensure our family trip wasn't inconvenienced or ruined. Those last two days could have been miserable but thanks to our hosts we enjoyed those last two days.
Finally it is not often that you get to compare directly a resort experience to an Airbnb experience but this was one of those times, and let me tell you the cottage was superior to the resort in every way. This is not a knock on our hosts and I am not complaining but given the choice between the resort and the cottage I would choose the cottage every single time with no hesitation. The cottage just felt like a home away from home and fit our needs far better than the resort did. So in the end if you are debating whether to stay at a resort/hotel or the cottage stop debating and book the cottage.