Overall, I would stay here again.
THE HOME
Single-family home with no shared walls and plenty of indoor/outdoor living areas (downstairs, upstairs common area, master bedroom). It’s great for a larger group get-together. We had 10 people and we made it work with everyone sharing a bed. The upstairs common area was where we congregated the most since the kitchen was integrated into the space. Plenty of fridge space and they had everything to make simple meals at home. That’s a good thing if you plan on doing breakfast or last night snacks. There’s also an integrated sound system with speakers all over the home. The garage was kind of tight because of the mounted washer and dryer. I was barely able to fit my BMW 5-Series so would be concerned with a larger SUV or 2 cars – not saying it won’t fit, but may be a tight squeeze and you’d want some eyes guiding you in. The sound-proofing was really good. It’s located on the main street and traffic noise was not an issue. Makes it feel okay for late night conversations too. Would avoid the loud music at night because it’s fairly quiet after 10pm (noise ordinance is probably the case).
THE LOCATION
The location was great. Not beachfront, but close enough. Within the block of houses that leads to the beachfront walkway, it’s at the end of the block, on the main street. So maybe a 2 minute slow stroll to get to the sand. Easily walkable to Ralph’s down the street and many bars and restaurants. We didn’t have kids, but Belmont Park is close too, in case you needed an afternoon of entertainment for them. Being on the edge of the street was convenient to get picked up by Uber or Lyft – so works well if you’re out and about a lot.
One thing to note is that there was major construction happening while we were there and it was a pain for us. The heavy equipment and vehicles were blocking most of the road so Uber and Lyft missed our pickup location a lot. There was construction noise about 10+ hours on the weekdays. And at one point, they shut off plumbing for a couple of hours without notice. We were not able to use our car all weekend so had to change some of our plans. The road conditions were barely passable the entire time and resulted in loud scrapes to the bottom of my car when I needed to pulled in and out at the beginning and end of our stay. Owners said that those events were out of their control and they had no prior knowledge to the construction, so no compensation was given for the inconveniences.
CHECKING IN & OUT
Check-in and out was easy. Code for the doors was texted on the day of arrival. I needed to drop off a few things before the check-in time and was allowed to get in about 90 minutes earlier. They were considerate to accommodate our request to come earlier, especially when the home was nearly ready. Checkout was not bad, but included a list of things to do which was not something we were used to. There’s a list in the provided informational binder which makes it easier / quicker for the next guests’ arrival. Things like taking off linens, starting a load of laundry, running the dishwasher, and taking out trash. It didn’t take long because we all pitched in, but would be a burden if we were running late or didn’t see it noted in the binder. Possibly an optional thing, but we were glad to do it. Makes sense just to be considerate of another person’s home.
THE HOST
Carolyn was great. Responded quickly and was very friendly and accommodating. For us, she was always an email or text away. It’s different than dealing with a bigger company and I appreciate the personal connection.