First, the hosts Gretchen and Jim are quite helpful and very communicative and this review has nothing to do with them. They were truly fantastic.
It is ALL about the location being atrocious and I would NOT BOOK if You are traveling as a family.
It’s a glass front house facing a very active (and very nocturnal) homeless shelter where you can expect all night music, screaming, fighting and warning siren/chirps (which you will be grateful for at least knowing there is a police presence). Our Uber eats drivers either looked terrified and slung our food at us and ran or simply wouldn’t get out of their cars at night and messaged asking us to come get it from them tips be damned 😂
We arrived after dark with our 4 daughters in tow and were immediately like uh oh. I would have just eaten the cost and booked a hotel the very first night but my hubby talked me out of it. Had I not been traveling with him tho, as a group of 5 females I would never have stayed here. (Side note- I knew that the location and pics were too Perfect for the price but thought I got lucky and scooped a discounted rate due to a last minute cancellation or something, but the old adage if it seems too good to be true it probably is perfect here).
Be sure you download the app for garage door and go directly in the back alley because having to sprint to the front door weaving in and out of desperate people, down on their luck is sort of scary. I had the pleasure of walking along a lady beating herself bloody in the face while fighting herself.
We booked due to proximity to downtown and wanting to walk when possible since we love urban areas And the weather was forecasted as mild, but you won’t want to walk anywhere from this location.
Once you arrive you will first get the need for the extra insurance Liability verbiage required during the booking process and second laugh at all of the rules about noise and respecting the surrounding community 😂 I’m surprised the noise detectors inside didn’t pick the outside noise up.
I’m sure that I will get a clap back comment for this review about how they are very candid about their homeless community and this is a plight of all urban areas in this Covid world, so let me go ahead and address that: yes it is in the description but you have to get through a lot of minutia to find it. It really should be the first sentence. And yes, any one with a brain cell that has travelled anywhere urban in this Covid world is aware of how it has affected homeless populations, however, who wants to book a vacation rental directly facing a homeless shelter with no door man or security & a non locking front gate? We closed the blinds and never reopened them as ya can’t help but feel a little guilty enjoying yourself while staring at the homeless shelter across the street.
I would love to experience this place again when it feels safer to explore. So many beautiful murals, such a fantastically alternative vibe and so very many great things to see ( & eat- foodie heaven).
Again, great hosts and this is not about them I just wanted to review honestly and I hope I save someone else the shock by preparing them. Had I dug deeper into the reviews I would have been prepared but again, the location and the pics were so prime I got lazy.
Place was clean, beautifully decorated, and the elevator made life a lot easier to move about between all of the floors towing luggage. They were quick to provide fresh linens and even notified us about a garage door mishap where it opened on its own after closing as they do monitor for these sorts of problems which made me feel more secure since that alley is very active with Wanderers as well.