We truly hate to leave a negative review and we have a long history of wonderful vacation rentals. However, we would like others to be aware of what we experienced and we gave our host, Lisa, multiple opportunities to address our main issue: We chose her unit based on the advertised bedroom configuration that included a King bed for us and two twins for our kids. (We do not even consider listings that do not have a King bed due to my sleep disorder). When it was time for bed we quickly realized that our bed was not even close to a king. I drove around La Jolla until after 11:00pm unsuccessfully looking for a hotel, and finally found another Airbnb in Mission Beach for the last 3 days of our visit (thank you Daniel for bailing us out!).
We communicated our issue to Lisa the next morning. Her initial response was impressive- a sincere apology for an honest mistake and a forthcoming full refund.
However, after we checked out of her unit, she reduced her offer to a partial refund, leaving us on the hook for over $1000 for a one night stay we never would have booked if not for the listing’s misrepresentation (which we noticed today, has been changed to a Queen size bed - really not even sure if that is accurate).
She also asserted that the small bed we slept terribly on the night before was actually a King. Subsequent attempts to negotiate a fairer solution have been unsuccessful, with Lisa encouraging us to take it up with Airbnb.
Other things to know about this unit: It is very small. Think Residence Inn with 2 small bedrooms. Also, the deck overlooks an alley, the deck umbrella is broken, there are no hardwood floors throughout as the photos show and the kitchen garbage can… let’s just say we hope the brown muck on the inside rim isn’t there anymore. It is also a good 15 min walk to the beach and the walls are very thin (we could clearly overhear conversation from downstairs). Finally, you might want to confirm with Lisa that the advertised single parking place will be available upon arrival as it was not when we arrived.