Go somewhere else! TLDR; the owner promised a refund and kept our money instead.
Below is a summarized account of the beginning of a three week stay at this property.
When we arrived at the condo, we found a strong odor on the property. It quickly caused our family headaches. We reached out to the local property manager, as instructed by the owner of the condo. The property manager's assistant arrived promptly to check the condo. She agreed there was a rather strong smell, possibly caused by aggressive carpet cleaning products. She reached out to the property manager via phone who got approval from the owner and gave us three options:
1) have carpet cleaning crew come next week (it was Friday, wait until at least Monday) and attempt to remove the smell
2) Stay at a different property managed by the property manager (note this is another property not owned by the condo owner, which was weird)
3) Pay for the single night and "receive a full refund for the unused days (cleaning fees still apply)"
Given the situation we opted for option 3. We were instructed to cancel the stay on AirBnb and everything would be taken care of. Everyone was so kind and professional that we didn't question anyone's integrity.
Fast forward to now. Despite a phone call with his property manager, who was shocked at the situation, and numerous attempts to message the owner, the owner has chosen not to honor his word. Because everything was done verbally instead of on the Airbnb message platform, nobody can do anything for us. The owner refunded us ~35% of what was promised and refused to reply to us on AirBnb to explain.
We were ready to leave a glowing review for how swift and accommodating everyone was. But, obviously, we have been taken advantage of, lost a lot of money, and can no longer recommend this property to anyone, smell or not. Spend your money and time elsewhere. And, if you're ever in a situation like us, never cancel before getting the owner's word in writing on the Airbnb platform.
We would like to say AirBnb’s team was stuck, given we canceled (never do this!) before they were engaged on the issue. The AirBnb agents were prompt and helpful as was the local property management team. The owner however, not so much. Thanks for reading!