I’ll start with some true positives!
-Great location!
-beautiful kitchen
-Fast internet
-spacious home
-enclosed front & back yard
-easy check in and good host communication
There were some really great things about this stay! Unfortunately, there is an even longer list of negative experiences. First, the listing itself isn’t accurate and there are many, many things that aren’t included in the listing that you don’t find out until *after* you book when you can see the house manual.
Here are the things in the listing that we found to be less than truthful:
1. “There are 4 ceiling fans in the house, 1 portable AC, and one standing fan to keep you cool.” Not totally untrue. Here’s the full truth: there is one ceiling fan in the living room, one in the dining area, and one in each of the 3 bedrooms (5 total). One of them in the bedrooms doesn’t work so there’s a standing fan in that bedroom. The bedroom with the broken fan is also closest to the back of the house which butts up to the freeway and is super loud at night. So the suggestion to open windows and put a box fan in that window is also making an assumption that you won’t be awoken by FREEWAY traffic. Silly.
2. “The kitchen is fully equipped and ready for some serious cooking”. Laughable! What it should say is: the kitchen is newly remodeled but not properly stocked. There is ample silverware and a decent amount of dishes. 1 9x13 baking dish. 3 steak knives. A pizza cutter. A burger flipper. Tongs. A few frying pans but 2 of them are rusty and unusable. Absolutely NO seasonings (not even salt and pepper). Literally no food products at all. So if you plan to do any cooking, know that there may not be pans that you need, you will need to provide all of your ingredients (including basic seasons, oil/cooking spray), and bring disposable plates/bowls unless you plan to wash all of them between every meal. There are also no ziploc bags, aluminum foil, etc.
3. the listing says there’s closets and a dresser for clothes storage. Not untrue. But it should also say: there is exactly 1 dresser and it’s falling apart. The drawers are not in tracks so when you pull the drawers out, they tip toward the floor and will fall out if you don’t stabilize them while putting clothes in or taking them out.
THEN, this is some of what you find out after the booking:
1. “There is always plenty of street parking available right in front of the house”. Wrong. thank God we only had one car.
2. “Please don't use towels to wipe off make up. This doesn't come out in the wash and ruins the towel.” It should say: each guest is allotted one towel and one towel only. The reason you cannot use these towels to take off makeup is because they are the cheapest towels on the market (the Target RE Essentials brand). They are hardly large enough to cover an average human and they feel similar to sandpaper. If you happen to need more than one towel per human, you are SOL.
3. “Bathroom has 3 switches, a light, heater and fan. Run the fan during showering and for 20 minutes after showering. Keep bathroom door closed after use.” What it should say: there is poor ventilation in the bathroom. When you turn on the fan, it pumps hot air into the bathroom instead of sucking it out for some odd reason.
4. “Tips for hot weather (with no central a/c) Open all bedroom doors and windows in evenings. Use the box fan at night in a window or by the back sliding door screen to draw in the cold air from outside.” See #1.
5. “A starting kit of paper products, soap, shampoo, shower gel etc. is provided. If you run out, you'll have to buy more.” Not totally untrue. What it should also say is: 1 roll of 1-ply toilet paper is included. It is very poor quality and since there’s only one roll there’s a very good chance you will need to go buy more.
6. “The bedding uses a duvet and duvet cover system. The duvet cover is washed each time. This is cleaner then a flat sheet system where the duvet doesn’t get washed and shares contact between guests.” Goodness. This one is very interesting. What it should say is: by “duvet cover system”, I mean that there is not a sheet set up on the beds at all. In fact, there’s not even a fitted sheet over the mattress. There is a flat sheet that is tucked around the mattress (which inevitably doesn’t stay in place while sleeping), and no flat sheet on top. So you sleep between a tucked in flat sheet and a duvet & cover. Which means that if it’s hot at night (which it is), you have no light cover option for sleeping. There are also no extra blankets anywhere in the house so if you are cold you are SOL.
Other things of note:
1. The beds are easily the most uncomfortable beds we have ever slept in. You can feel the springs in the mattresses and you can hear them when you move. And no, we are not large people.
2. The pillows are disgusting. Literally falling apart. No pillow protectors to keep them sanitary.
3. The shower curtain is installed incorrectly. It’s a curved one that should curve out and away from the shower to provide more room. Instead, it bows up (like a rainbow). This means the liner hangs unevenly and does not seal against the shower walls. You’ll have a water mess to clean up after each shower.
4. There is no drain plug for the bathtub. You cannot take baths, which is a big deal for a family with young children.
5. No extras of anything including garbage bags.