PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION BOOKING THIS PROPERTY.
I’m going to try and keep this short, but the bottom line is the experiences and myriad of issues we had with this property/host make me question whether I will ever book a stay through Airbnb again.
First, when we arrived we were not expecting the location to be on an extremely busy street with a very steep driveway. The outdoor areas were not cleaned/maintained well (pieces of popped balloons littered the yard, full trash bin and the hot tub had a green film). This was concerning because we have small children and the balloon pieces were a choking hazard not to mention the spa was unusable in its condition (the property manager did come drain/clean this on day 2). And it’s a much longer walk with not so easy access to the beach so definitely not matching the description.
Then, the AC didn’t work. This was one of the top reasons we booked this property and our stay happened to be during a heat wave weekend. The property manager did everything she could (brought over fans and looked for a portable AC unit) but it was pretty miserable for us. Our young kids weren’t napping well during the day or sleeping at night due to the heat. When we had to leave doors and windows open at night to try and get some airflow through the home, we quickly discovered that rats run rampant around the property and a couple of them came very close to coming in the home. We put our luggage in doorways to keep this from happening while we slept, but it was definitely an unsettling experience.
Our biggest issue, however, was the communication with the host. When we asked for a partial refund for the inconvenience with the AC being out she was immediately defensive and argumentative (saying she was checking the temp the entire time and it “wasn’t that bad” and that this was a “minor inconvenience). Never once an apology. When we were messaging to try and get to a resolution on the requested refund, she would just stop communicating and had a ton of excuses why she couldn’t send a refund. So a week later it still hasn’t been done and she apparently now is on vacation for 2 weeks without access. Very frustrating.
All in all, this host is inconsiderate and extremely unprofessional. I would urge others looking to visit La Jolla to stay at another home or even a nice hotel for the same price you’d be paying here.