Pros - great location, plenty of space, parking. Can walk to the beach, very close to golf courses, if you’re into that, possible to walk to restaurants if you don’t mind a 15-20 min walk.
A week before our arrival, I messaged Carol to ask about how to check in. She replied she had already told me, which she had. A few days later she asked if we would be out by 10, which was odd because the listing and the message with the directions said that check out was 11.
So. After a long day of flying from Chicago, waiting for our rental car, and driving another 45 minutes, we arrived to a dirty home. I saw crumbs on the kitchen counters when I walked in and thought, “Ok, no big deal. I can wipe that up.” Then my teenagers went to their room and saw that the bed linens had clearly not been changed. The other two rooms were in the same condition.
I texted right away. Waited a few minutes and no response. So I called, and Carol answered. She had forgotten to put our arrival date on the cleaning schedule even though I had reserved the home in February 2022.
She then asked if I would mind changing the sheets myself and wave the cleaning fee. Basically, she expected us to use bathrooms that had not been cleaned as well or expected us to clean the bathrooms. I said that I did not want to do that. She said she didn’t think she would be able to find anyone to clean the house that night.
She offered a refund, which I also declined because where else would we find a place for six people that night?!
I told her to try to find someone because again, long day of traveling and where would we stay that wouldn’t cost us a lot of $$$ ? I told her to try to find someone and call me back within 20 min and we would go from there. She got back to me in about 10 min and said someone would be coming to clean. Two people showed up within 25/30 min.
Great, but we had dinner reservations and didn’t get a chance to clean up before we left.
We did not sleep well because our first impression was we were grossed out by walking into a home that wasn’t cleaned. Even though you know people have stayed there before, it’s not something you want to see or walk into.
Anyway, called Airbnb because I just didn’t feel good about staying there. Carlos said he’d help me find somewhere else to stay. However, when I talked to Carol later she told me that he indicated they would not be helping us in that direction at all. Carlos later denied both of our versions to me, so that also did not sit well with me.
Airbnb must have told her to settle it with me so she asked me what would make me feel better about staying there. She ended up sending the cleaners again and said that three people had gone there to clean that first night. Two came while we were there. Supposedly the third came after we left for dinner.
After the second cleaning, the whole situation just left a bad taste in my mouth. I did ask for monetary compensation. She asked what I wanted and I told her no cleaning fee and compensation for the first night. The place was it not ready for us, she expected us to clean it up ourselves after a day of traveling, and we could not even properly get ready for dinner. I thought it was fair. She agreed to reimbursing the cleaning fee. When I gave her my reasons for wanting the first night compensated (especially since she wasn’t even expecting us anyway until the 29th), she told me “at the risk of sounding confrontational” that I should instead “concentrate” on enjoying the last few days there. To me, this situation was separate from the rest of our vacation. In addition, I do not appreciate being told how to feel in a situation, especially when I am not the one at fault.
I did tell her that there was a smell coming from the sink, but it was not urgent. We would not be cooking, and we could only smell it when we stood over the sink to wash our hands. She insisted on fixing the garbage disposal that day, but we wanted to go out for lunch and so then waited for her.
I get mistakes happen, but I feel I was the one coming up with any solutions. She was willing to do the least or nothing at all. She only called the cleaners that night because I insisted. Nothing else was done or said to make up or apologize until I had called Airbnb our first morning.
This was my most disappointing stay anywhere-Airbnb or otherwise.