Whew--what an unnecessary bunch of stress, staying here! Hospitality is lacking in an industry taken over by people simply wanting profit.
As a disabled person traveling solo with two very small, legitimate service dogs (medical alert dogs, not ESA), I am transparent about my needs and expectations. In spite of telling Jenn/Roger that I had just arrived in LV, and needed to get into a place within an hour to feed my dogs, they not only made me wait an unnecessary two hours before getting check in info (even though the listing was supposed to "book instantly"--the address they put in the listing IS NOT THE HOUSE, IT'S A RECORD STORE).
I was sitting in my car, in multiple places around this part of town (so I didn't look like I was loitering by staying in one spot too long, thank you very much), while waiting to get the actual address of the house. =/
So, I had to:
1.) agree to change my reservation only two nights, even though I'd booked three. They decided they were taking another party from another location to this house! So I got the boot even though I had secured three nights on Airbnb. =/
2.) agree to unlawfully be charged $399 for a "pet deposit," even though I THOROUGHLY explained (emotional labor much?) that I travel with our own blankets, a rug, etc, and that my dogs are not "regular dogs," therefore we don't leave messes the way other people might. I also told them it was unlawful to charge that "fee" even if it is refundable.
BEFORE I WAS GIVEN THE ACTUAL ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE.
Roger, although friendly, is renting out this house without it being properly cleaned or prepared for guests, let alone the PREMIUM PRICE they are charging. I ended up paying over $300 a night for a house that:
1.) Had greasy fingerprints on the fridge door/handle
2.) Had an unusable hot tub, even though the listing advertises a hot tub (which I specifically searched for)--Roger hadn't maintained it and when he peeked under the cover for it, dropped it and said, "It's gross, it needs to be dumped out."
3.) Had no dish soap for the kitchen
4.) Had no hand soap for the bathroom
5.) Had no wastebaskets at all
6.) Had no proper trash setup in the kitchen (I found small bags in the pantry, but they didn't fit the oversized trash bin, so I had to constantly manage a loose bag
7.) Had no towels! I asked Roger to bring us towels by 11:30am the next day, but he didn't bring them until after 6:30pm! At that point, I had used my "emergency travel bath towel" for two showers for myself, AND my dog (who has unique skincare needs due to her breed, so she must be bathed and groomed not unlike a human). I later found towels in the washer.
8.) Had hair in the bathtub AND the shower (which I had to use my own container to rinse, since the setup didn't allow for a reach of the spigot/shower head to wash the area clean).
9.) Had an old, gross barbeque platter that had been left outside on the back porch
10.) Had a broken HUGE gate (enough for a car to fit through), which I was not notified of--I only discovered when I went around the yard to pick up my dog's poop, that the gate was WIDE OPEN (it's not visible from the back sliding glass door, so I had no idea this posed a safety risk to my dogs!). The gate has broken hardware AND COULD NOT BE SECURED. Roger ended up placing an oversized tire against it to keep it closed. =/
11.) Had EXTREMELY DIRTY CARPET in the bedroom--even Roger pointed it out and said, "I need to get the carpet cleaned." I ended up using a sheet to cover the entry into the bedroom, it was so gross.
12.) Roger also had me/us cover the gigantic sofa in sheets (which were in the most massive pile of dirty/clean sheets I'd ever seen--yes, it was a pile of both clean and dirty items together). But honestly, I think these sheets (or were they duvets?) were cleaner than the sofa, as I picked up a pillow and it smelled like someone's dirty hair. =/
I'm actually glad he had these sheets/duvets (even though I'm not totally confident that they were sanitary?!), because I do know that the rug and the gigantic sofa, and the carpet, were very dirty by comparison. =(
13.) Had someone's dirty pocket change left on the nightstand in the bedroom
14.) Had dust bunnies in various corners and surfaces
15.) Was missing details on how to manage the lighting in the house (there is LED lighting, but none of the dozen remotes I found worked). They seemed to be on a mysterious timer.
The fact that I had to "jump through hoops" to get to this house after a long day in the car (and telling these hosts that I was tired, disabled, traveling solo, needed to feed my dogs, etc), and THEN to be given a house in this condition? Then having to bug them about making sure I got my nearly $400 "deposit" back, which is illegal in the first place?!
While it makes sense to charge guests for damages done (duh), it is UNLAWFUL to charge "pet cleaning deposits" for service animals. STOP MAKING DISABLED PEOPLE DO EMOTIONAL LABOR TO EXPLAIN OUR LEGAL RIGHTS. If you are having problems with people lying about having "service dogs," and then causing damages, then maybe you should read the American's with Disabilities Act section on service animals! Or at least read the dang Airbnb page about Accessibility! Lazy able-bodied people make it harder to for disabled people to be treated with dignity in public spaces.
I tried to be polite about it, but I feel like this was a MAJOR "over-promised, under-delivered" situation. I