The neighborhood was in a convenient spot for our week long stay. We felt safe and it was very close to a walking trail that we really enjoyed. There’s a great coffee shop, French Truck Coffee, on the trail about a 5 minute walk from the house. Mid city is the perfect distance from the French quarter. It’s a little calmer & less crowded, but still a short drive to the tourist spots. There’s a casual restaurant, Katie’s, right around the corner from the house. It’s been featured on Diners, Drive ins & Dives. We walked there for dinner twice and the food was good. Another cool spot along the trail is Broadside. There was a live brass band playing the Sunday we were there. City Park and Morning Call are also close to the house.
The best part about the house is all the light that comes in downstairs. We had great weather while we were there and I enjoyed drinking my coffee on the porch in the morning. The AC works very well. You can control it downstairs and also in the master bedroom. When I lowered the temperature at night, it kicked on immediately and cooled the room quickly.
We did have a few issues with the house while we were there. The handle/lock for the front door is broken. It still works and we were given instructions on how to use it before arriving, but it was a pain. The entire handle actually fell out of the door while trying to use it, which is when I realized how easily someone could have broken in. The neighborhood seemed safe, but still definitely a concern.
The biggest disappointment about the house was the bedding in the master. Upon our arrival we discovered that the bedding hadn’t been changed from the last guest. There was blood smeared all over the underside of the comforter and some on the sheets. The sheets also had dark oily stains and bleach stains all over. The pillowcases were also stained with a pink dye. I texted the owners to ask for new bedding, which they brought quickly, (there house is attached) but they forgot a comforter and I had to text again. I had to change the bloody bedding myself and put on the new sheets. At this point, I discovered the blood had soaked into the mattress pad underneath. Unfortunately, the new bedding was not acceptable for a rental either. It also had dark stains, bleach stains and the pillow cases had holes all over. It was late and I’m sure this was all they had. I asked that they bring new bedding the following day. The host appropriately refunded our money for that night. The next day was Easter and it’s unfortunate that it was a holiday, but the bedding still needed to be replaced. At first the host texted me and asked me to bring the bloody bedding outside and leave it on the back porch. So once again, I had to touch it and carry it outside. They wanted to wash it and bring it back. I told them that the blood was soaked in all the way to the mattress pad and asked them to buy new bedding from Walmart. In the end, they did deliver new bedding. The sheets were still folded in the package and appeared to be new. The comforter had dingy yellow spots on it like you get after bleaching something a lot and a small dark stain as well. I was told it was new and that they washed it before bringing it over. It did not appear to be new.
The master bedroom has very little storage. The closet was full of pillows and there’s only a small spot to hang clothes. There’s no dresser and only 1 very small bed side table. The master bathroom isn’t big enough for two people to get ready. I lived out of my suitcase for the week.
One evening we found a cockroach on the stairs. We were able to kill it, but of course we were creeped out for the rest of the stay. There were cockroach traps under all the beds and one in the living room. There was also ant/cockroach spray under the sink.
The hot tub is a very cool feature of the house, unfortunately it didn’t appear to be very clean either. There were dirt and rock piles on the bottom and something very gross floating in the water.
The throw blanket on the couch was covered in debris like someone had used it outside and it wasn’t washed before our stay.
There is only one tv in the house and the couch only seats 3 people. I wish I had paid more attention to the photos before booking as this wasn’t enough seating for our family of 4.