I stayed at Mario’s place with three other adults and 4 children for 10 days. Our initial reservations were to stay a full two weeks, however we ended up checking out early (see early checkout below).
Pros:
Mario was very accommodating when we contacted him to check in early - we contacted him when we made it to the area ahead of schedule and he let us know when the cleaners would be finished so we could access the home instead of waiting in the area for three more hours. Mario’s home is beautiful, was exceptionally clean, and was very conveniently located. For families with children, the front yard makes for a wonderful place to run in the sprinkler or kick soccer balls around. The neighbors were very friendly and we were right next to a super Target for any grocery needs, plus a lot of restaurant choices. The house itself is very spacious and the kids enjoyed the finished basement with the gaming system and foosball table. Additionally, the bbq and sitting area in the backyard was really nice for the first few days before the weather got too hot to comfortably sit outside. The living room seating was very comfortable and all rooms upstairs were carefully and thoughtfully decorated (kids enjoyed their rooms and the master suite was big and beautiful).
Cons:
Despite having a very advanced tv system with seemingly everything you could want in an entertainment system, it was really difficult operating the tv in the living room on the main floor and appeared that many of the entertainment options had actually been disconnected prior to our arrival. Thankfully we brought our own Apple TV and plugged that directly in, otherwise we wouldn’t have had tv for movie nights or anything throughout the trip. Additionally, the nespresso machine had no pods - a small detail, but I didn’t bring any coffee things because I was relying on using what was highlighted in the listing and was disappointed when that was not an option. I ordered nespresso pods and decaf k cups through amazon and they were delivered to a locked mailbox so they were unaccessible but Mario was quick in getting someone to come open the mailbox and drop them off to me. Also, the room in the basement seemed like somewhat of an afterthought - there were bedside tables and a decent amount of hangers in the closet but there was no dresser to unpack clothing so we had our bags around us to store things for the full visit. Finally, the AC seemed to be either controlled remotely (it was connected to an app on Mario’s phone) or was on a timed schedule - if we weren’t constantly keeping and eye on it, it kept creeping up to 77 degrees. This was way too hot given that the weather outside was 90s to 100 degrees; we kept having to adjust it because the nest system kept going higher and higher to a temperature that was highly uncomfortable and unpleasant for ourselves and our children.
Early Checkout: a week into our stay, we noticed the AC was no longer blowing cold air. After notifying Mario, he attempted to get a repairman in the next morning and no one came. We spent the day trying to keep the house shuttered against the sun yet it still reached 80+ degrees indoors. The next morning, Mario arranged for a second repairman to come. The man came and said he would be back that afternoon - he even confirmed timing so we could schedule our dinner plans around his arrival/work hours. The repairman never showed back up. Mario proactively sent $100 and an apology for the inconvenience, however at this point we had been without AC with an 80+ degree home for two days at $274/night so while the gesture was appreciated, the compensation was inadequate. Mario communicated that the repairman would be back again the following morning and that the coils were frozen in the system so we were supposed to leave the AC off entirely for the whole night. He apologized for the delay but explained there was a heat wave passing through Denver and all AC companies with whom he spoke were backed up on timing. We opted to check out early given the now extreme discomfort and that the AC was locked (repairman mentioned to us that it was frozen so it had to stay off to defrost but that if we ran it we would get slightly cold air) so we were stuck looking at a thermostat locked at 84-86 degrees. Mario promptly refunded us for the remaining days.
It certainly wasn’t Mario’s fault that the ac stopped working and he communicated well his efforts to try and resolve the situation. We would gladly stay at this property again in the future - but would likely try to come in cooler weather!