Our trip from Los Angeles to Woodside, CA was our first major trip in 7 months. We were celebrating my husband's 40th bday with our 6yo son with Autism. It was a major decision to leave home during a pandemic but based on the description of "Enhanced Clean," we were certain that our host was using the most current and stringent safety protocols. Unfortunately, we found that to be lacking. To our dismay, when we began to settle in for the evening, we noticed a foul odor emanating from the bathroom. It wasn't until my husband opened the toilet that he noticed that someone had a bowel movement and had left it there for what appeared to be days...in addition, the bathroom trashcan was full with someone else's refuse. We didn't get the sense that any "enhanced cleaning" had been done. The room felt incredibly stuffy, the carpet was stained and needed a good wash and the bathroom smelled like sewage our entire stay....
It took 20 minutes for our host to get back to us despite us calling, FaceTime audio, texting and private messaging through the Airbnb app.
We proceeded to lysol wipe down EVERYTHING. Open all the windows. Spray our disinfecting spray, switched out the pillow cases and towels for our own from home. Spray air freshener in the bathroom and lay down play-mats on the carpet for our kindergartner so he wouldn't actually have to sit on the floor. We set up hand sanitizers throughout the upstairs unit. It was a REALLY stressful way to begin the getaway. FYI, our host also wasn't wearing a mask upon greeting us and ushering us upstairs. This was concerning. It is required by the State of CA and Airbnb.
Fast forward to the next morning, we woke up in a glorious redwood forest with a trampoline, kids play structure, a chicken coup and an archery range. Our son was in heaven and it almost seemed worth the previous evenings disruptions.
We went into town and had an amazing breakfast followed by grocery shopping and later went hiking in Wunderlich Park and horse watching at the Foster stable. We had an early dinner bday dinner al fresco with local families.
Our location 2,000 ft high, provided us with easy access to the coast. We proceeded up the mountain a little further and it drops you right on the highway to access half moon bay. That was wonderful.
We spent the morning at Lemos Farm where our son was able to safely ride a pony, pet and feed goats, do a train and hay ride and even check out the Lemos Farm haunted house.
Bottom line: the area is beautiful, remote and peaceful but due to the current pandemic we didn't feel safe in the space we inhabited. It felt unclean the entire stay and that made relaxing very challenging while we were in the unit.
We would definitely go back to the Silicon Valley but not necessarily stay in the unit due to our health and safety concerns. We would also have appreciated the host reimbursing us the cleaning fee seeing as how the unit was definitely not "clean" upon our arrival.