I'm a bit conflicted about how to review our stay at the Mermaid's Garden Loft, but I rely heavily on reviews of Airbnbs so want to share my honest opinion.
The good: The host Sunshine was out of town but referred us to her backup host, Reese. She kindly offered an early check-in when learning our flight arrived several hours before the standard check-in time. Both Reese and Sunshine were very responsive communicators during our stay. A lot of love obviously went into creating this unique space, with many fun details like tons of plants, a lovely little tea/lounging "nook," and a beautiful small but private patio (where we attended a Zoom memorial for a family member). The location is fantastic-- a short walk to the beach and in a quiet, safe neighborhood.
The not-so-good (for us): We closely read the listing before booking and appreciated all the details about the space. The steep stairs were no problem, but overall we found the space to be a bit awkward and not comfortable for just hanging out. It's small and there's a lot of stuff, without an obvious place to put extra shoes or suitcases so it felt like our stuff was always in the way. The upstairs where the bed is has an incredibly low and angled ceiling, so we felt a little claustrophobic having to hunch over to crawl into bed. My 6' husband's feet hung off the bed a bit (not a big deal).
Overall: We are glad we booked this listing for our short 2-night stay in San Diego, as we were out and about and didn't do a lot of hanging out in the space except to sleep. The not-so-goods I described above were more than offset by the location and helpfulness of the hosts.