This house was definitely designed for entertaining at the highest level. We rented it in late December to gather our 20 something aged kids, significant others, roommates, and friends in one place for 10 days of much needed family time. The listing boasted wonderful amenities including a pool, hot tub, and tennis court, not to mention a unique circular design with floor to ceiling windows.
The kitchen features a circular sunken in design with a massive circular granite counter, 3 dishwashers, and a wide variety of entertaining appliances, not to mention an endless supply of stemware. There are also 3 huge circular gas fireplaces (probably not a great option for small children) which were very much appreciated as the temperatures hit the 40’s during our visit.
Reading the reviews played a large role in our decision to choose this property, so I am compelled to warn future potential visitors that this house has actually not been well maintained and therefore fails to rise to the level of exclusivity suggested by the rental price.
The lights, sound, and heat are controlled by computer tablets which are either found on countertops or mounted to the walls. Unfortunately, all but one of them don’t work. Therefore, in the master bedroom for example, we could not turn the lights off from our bed. Instead, if we chose to read before bed, we had to get up and find a light control that would work. According to management, this problem could not be fixed during our stay because of a legal dispute with the only company in La Jolla that would service the system. In fact, we waited for two hours for that company to show up only to be told by management that upon arrival, the service company refused to come in. (Only one of the remarkably fantastic excuses offered during our stay). Similarly, not even maintenance personnel could get the TVs to work properly.
The heat does not work throughout the house. We learned later from a maintenance person who we spent hours with during our second day there that the heat really hadn’t worked for quite a while and that he couldn’t fix it. Therefore, some rooms were over 80 degrees, others had no heat at all and we were forced to rely on space heaters that were dropped off on the second day.
We spent 5 hours during our second day waiting for maintenance people who did not show up or showed up hours late including a few that could not fix anything and one person who seemingly meant well but continually changed his story to come up with colorful but false excuses about why nothing worked in the house and also why nothing could be fixed.
The pool was lovely but had not been cleaned. The area was littered with discarded tiki torches from a prior visitor and empty propane tanks. Though there were a number of outdoor heaters surrounding the area, many had no propane. Again, we had to have someone come out and address it. Remarkably, there was not a single lounge chair around the pool. The tennis court was a great addition but was covered with discarded basketballs, rusted dumbbells, old tennis racquets, and old exercise equipment. Again, we had to have maintenance personnel come out to clean it. (It begs the question of why no one inspected the property prior to our arrival.) There was a path to a small sitting area which would have been very nice but the furniture was clearly past its prime and the cushions there were molding and on the ground along with litter. In fairness, after the maintenance personnel came in to clean the pool, the pool area, and the tennis court on day two, we used them daily.
There was a broken window in the living room which was being held together by duct tape and plastic and another ceiling level window that had just been left open without any way for us to close it.
Even the maintenance people had no idea how to use the appliances in the kitchen or even where to find any instructions. There were three dishwashers, but the inserts to hold actual dishes were broken making it quite a challenge to load them. Glass stemware was in abundance, but silverware was hard to come by. We made a trip to Costco for paper plates and disposable silverware, not to mention napkins, Kleenex, and other basics that are usually provided in an entertaining property at this level. The freezers and disposals gave off a foul odor. We actually had the maintenance person clean out the ancient ice in the freezer or it would not have been usable at all. We blocked the disposal on one of the sinks because we were not able to get rid of the odor.
Handles on cabinets and toilet paper holders were broken, light bulbs and lamps were burnt out; but the management representative that came to the house (more than once) mentioned that they really don’t address cosmetic issues. To his defense, however, he did fix the broken glass door in one of the bedrooms that was clearly letting cold air into a room without working heat.
Because many of us were working remotely during our stay, we appreciated the office cove. It was remarkable though that the office chair was literally deteriorating leaving faux leather all of the floor. Plenty of the chairs in the kitchen were also worn down and well past their prime.
It’s a unique house that would have been absolutely perfect for us had it been given the attention and basic maintenance that it deserves. We spent far too much of our stay and experienced far too much aggravation and frustration dealing with obvious repair issues that should have been resolved by management prior to our stay. They just didn’t care. One individual from the team tried hard to help us, but he really wasn’t given the authority to handle the plethora of problems that we walked into. We were ultimately given a discount which we appreciated, but it seemed evident that either the owners of this house are not interested in the experience of the