We booked Ellie's place based on the wonderful reviews and the super host status. This was one of the few times that I was surprised and underwhelmed by our AirBnB experience. Here is why:
Extra Tax/Feee
We messaged with Ellie a few times prior to our stay and she was very communicative. A few hours after we checked in we received a message that there is an extra 14.2% tax that we had to pay immediately. I admit, we did not read the fine print when booking. We had looked at 20+ places. We wrongly assumed that all of the fees were part of the booking price. Be aware of this. Had we known there was an extra 14% tax, we would not have stayed here.
Ants
As indicated in the check in details, guests may find ants and cockroaches if food items are left out. Thank god we did not see any cockroaches however, the ant situation was out of control. We kept the kitchen (sink and counters) clean however, after leaving my laptop on the side table at night, I woke up to write a few emails and ants were in my laptop crawling out of the keyboard.
Building
The decor of Ellie's place is spectacular. It is remarkable that she was transformed this unit to look so nice. However, some structural aspects, cinder block brick walls (painted white) give a very institutional aesthetic. The old shutters and dark shower added to this.
We could definitely hear the upstairs occupants when they walked around in the early morning and night.
I did not feel comfortable staying in the unit alone or using the pool.
Beach supplies limited
One of the perks of staying at Ellie’s place was having beach gear supplied. The gear that is offered is: 2 towels, 2 sets of very poor quality snorkel gear, two beach chairs, a bag, Styrofoam coolers and an boogie board with no leash (unusable) An umbrella would have been a great addition.
Things we loved:
The natural food store across the street
Ellie provided a travel book and there are lots of local magazines.