My fiancé and I booked this location while traveling to Chicago to compete in the Chicago marathon. After successfully checking in on Friday evening, we quickly realized the home had not been cleaned since the last guest had stayed. Human hair, crumbs/hair on the bed sheets, dirt on the floors, urine, and fecal matter on the toilet were some of the things we found right away. I immediately reached out to Stacy and provided her with photos of what we were seeing in the home. Her first response was that she apologized for the conditions, but that she had inspected the home herself earlier that day to confirm it was clean. She then told us that she could have someone come to the home the following day to fix the issues but wasn't willing to do it that evening. Another option presented to us was to cancel the reservation, but we had to be out of the property by 10 p.m. so that she could come to inspect the unit (but apparently not clean it). Anyone who knows how busy the city is during marathon weekend knows that the availability/pricing of rooms days before the race is outrageous, so we decided to tough it out until the next day. My fiancé and I made a quick trip to Target to purchase cleaning supplies and bedding in order to tolerate our stay that evening. After returning to the unit and doing a quick round of spot cleaning, we also noticed neither the tv nor WIFI in the unit worked as stated in the original listing.
First thing Saturday morning, we awoke to a message from Stacy asking us if it would be ok to have the cleaners come in between 12 am-1 pm, to which we agreed. What we didn't see was that she had sent a message even earlier that morning while we were still sleeping asking us to leave the unit key in the lock box so that the cleaners could get in. While exploring the city on Saturday afternoon, we received a message from Stacy telling us that the cleaners were at the property, but because we did not leave the key as instructed, they would not be able to clean that day. Our first thought was one of embarrassment because we had not seen the message regarding the key, but that quickly turned to confusion realizing that she was insinuating that she herself was not willing to let the cleaners in, or that she only had one key made for the unit. Shortly after, we decided to contact AB&B directly regarding our issue and they assured us that they would contact Stacy to work things out. At 3:30 pm on Saturday afternoon (the evening before the Chicago Marathon) we received a message from Stacy stating that she had talked with AB&B and that she was choosing to kick us out of the unit. She gave us until 4:00 pm (30min) to have our belongings out of the unit so that she could come and inspect it. Both my fiancé and I were stunned to learn that she was doing this to us, and quickly began to panic because we did not have other arrangements made to stay in the city. After vacating the unit, we were forced to sit in our cars on the street and search for other accommodations for the evening. Our only options left were hotel rooms starting at $450 a night, but because we needed a place to stay, we had no choice. Thankfully, we were able to make it to our hotel room Saturday evening and settle in before the race on Sunday morning at 7:30 am.
We have stayed at many AB&Bs over the last few years but have never experienced anything/anyone that came even remotely close to what we encountered with Stacy and her property. In a world that is now present with the fear of COVID, cleanliness should be top of mind for anyone allowing multiple guests to stay in their property. Putting that aside, the fact that someone could make a guest feel punished for raising their hands about issues in a unit that they paid their hard-earned money for is absurd. I can only hope that our less-than-ideal stay will serve as a learning experience for others who consider/may consider staying at any of Stacy’s properties.