This is the first negative review I've left on AirBnB. When we arrived at the home, we noted that a lot didn't appear to be clean (the counters, stove, and everything up high were wiped down, but the floors had sticky places on them and there was a lot of sand and dirt, especially around/under the sofas. The master bedroom had cobwebs along the vaulted ceiling). We later discovered that some of the dishes had been put away dirty. We chose not to complain and make the best of our trip.
Communication during booking was sparse and slow, but was even worse when we had an issue. We returned home one evening to find someone had parked in our assigned spot. We attempted to contact the downstairs neighbor, but had no luck, so I tried to call and text the host's "emergency" number (this was at 6:36pm, after hours), as well as message on AirBnB. I didnt get a response for almost an hour. If you aren't familiar with Mission Beach, you can't just go park somewhere else. This is a REALLY busy area, especially in the evenings. The public lots are either expensive to park at or do not allow overnight parking. Street parking is even more sparse. While waiting on the host, neighbors got involved after seeing us standing in the alley. The believed that the car belonged to a friend of the downstairs neighbor and attempted to contact him. After almost two hours, the car got moved, but no thanks to the host. When I finally got a response from the host, it was just that they were calling the downstairs neighbor, but I never got any other reply from them, even when I asked additional questions. In the morning, though, they were quick to text me advising of a noise complaint because we were playing music before 9am (this isn't mentioned anywhere in the rules or welcome pack -- only a 10pm quiet time. This was at 8am and the first song hadn't finished playing before I received the text), having texted before my son's first song was done playing. Another rep from Surf Style simultaneously texted advising that the parking spot I was in wasn't ours and I had to park in the garage.
While we were reassured that the parking issue wouldn't occur again, we were also told that if it did, to check with all the neighbors before contacting Surf Style to see if the car was theirs and that we couldn't have the car towed.
From this point on, the downstairs neighbor was a nightmare, staring down my family in the alleyway, driving past just to back up while staring at them, then speeding past them at wide open throttle again.
Had it just been that the neighbor was a pain and a little dirt was left behind, I wouldn't have had an issue with Surf Style; however, their lack of communication (unless you play music at 8am on a weekday) and unwillingness to assist a customer leave me unwilling to rent from them again.