We had such a great stay at this adorable little cottage this past weekend. There were 7 of us, two adults and five kids 10 and under. This has by far been my favorite AirBnb that we've rented.
The house:
The house is older but well updated. Very clean. The shower nozzle was something to note...it could have just been our long days at the beach, but it felt much higher quality than your average shower. It is a smaller cottage, so when everyone piles in, things and people tend to get in the way (not sure how many times I tripped over the dang high chair, but we're used to space in AZ).
The pullout couches were HUGE. I was worried about us all fitting comfortably. My husband and I slept in the bedroom with our 1 year old, and the other four kids slept on ONE couch with room to spare. These couches can easily fit 2 adults per, or a gaggle of kids. The queen bed was super comfortable.
We stayed in July, so naturally it was warm. Both rooms had ceiling fans and there was a powerful standing fan in the closet that we moved in at night. We kept windows open, as well as the front door while we were home during the day and it was bearable.
The yard was perfect. The kids loved it and spent a good amount of time out there playing with the toys that were available. There is a nice high fence, so people walking by can't just look in, although the people in the apartment complex next door can...they minded their own business though.
There is another AirBnb directly behind this unit with the same hosts. There is probably 8 feet in between the houses. I couldn't stop thinking about how fun it would be to do a group trip and snag both houses...it'd be a perfect setup. We could hear the people staying in the other one, and they walk next to the house/yard to get to theirs, but it wasn't any more intrusive than the rest of the relatively crowded neighborhood.
The area:
SO awesome. A couple blocks from the beach...lots of little shops and cool restaurants around. You can walk almost anywhere. The people around are really friendly.
Amenities:
This place, although very nice, is pretty bare bones. It's meant to crash at night after being outside all day. The WiFi works well, but cable is as basic as it comes. Because we were in pretty early with sleeping kiddos, we were kicking ourselves for not bringing a laptop for Netflix. I still can't get, "BIG BUCKS, NO WHAMMIES!" out of my head. This obviously wouldn't be bothersome depending on your dynamic, or if you really like game shows and Spanish channels.
The hosts:
Communicative, kind, left us tons of suggestions for things to do. MIND THE BINDER...I read the note about street sweeping wrong (thought it was sides of the house rather than sides of the street) and landed myself a nice $52 parking ticket.
The noise:
I won't lie...this place is noisy. You can hear your neighbors sneeze, there was a barking dog all night somewhere in the immediate vicinity, and you're right in the flight path. As far as the planes go, they're going all day so it's not super noticeable because it becomes the norm quickly. The rest of the stuff combined with having to keep windows open was noticeable. That being said, my kids slept great and it would not keep me from booking again.
All in all a great stay...I'm gonna cross my fingers that there's an outdoor shower in place of a hose, and a window unit A/C for nighttime before we come back, but we definitely will be back regardless. :)