Let me preface this review with a little bit about myself: I travel often and utilize AirBnB for most of my travels. I'm an easy going guy who has a fairly high threshold for what bothers me, especially when it comes to travel/lodging. So, believe me when I say my group and I (20ish people) felt extremely uncomfortable, awkward, and unwelcomed on multiple occasions during our visit to Yoki's place. To save you from reading an entire paper on the things that went wrong, here's a quick summary: the property itself is gorgeous and the only reason for my 2/5 stars. The host(s), on the other hand, straight basura.
To start off, after making the reservation, I brought up a potential issue to Yoki...the fact that my guests and I were a large group of health care workers who frequently came into contact with Covid positive patients and could potentially fall ill to covid at any time leading up to our trip. I wanted to have reassurance that if we were documented to have been diagnosed with covid and that it derailed our reservation plans, that we could recoup some of the reservation cost due to unforeseen circumstances. Yoki made it clear that there would be no refunds, regardless of the situation. Luckily for us, AirBnB policy states otherwise and I was able to confirm that if this were to occur, then we would have gotten our full refund (cause who in their right mind would want covid positive individuals renting a vacation home to party it up?!) Moving on...I paid for early check in TWO months prior to our check in date. On the day of our reservation, I was messaged on AirBnB and subsequently called via phone, to inform me that my group and I would not be able to check in early because the home wasn't clean. Evidently, the last group of people who went through the home had left the pool a mess, sheets weren't washed, and the home needed to be thoroughly clean. Understandable. I told Yoki that my group and I had made flight reservations based around the fact that we paid for and were anticipating early check in. We didn't mind being in the home and chilling by the poolside as the house was being cleaned up. But, of course, there's more to it than just the home being dirty. Evidently, Yoki is trying to sell this property and despite knowing that he had guests who paid for early check in, he scheduled for a potential buyer to come around to tour the home on the same day as our check in while we were there! What the heck? I told him that we wouldn't want to check in early, to give us our refund back, and requested that we at least be allowed to drop off our bags. He told me that we were allowed to drop off our bags, but that if we visited the home more than once prior to official check in (6 pm local time), our early check in refund would be void and that it would be consider an early check in to drop off our bags in multiple trips. We got over this little drama bit and 6 pm came...time for the walk through. We checked in, got through the walk through, and Yoki left. Ironically, during the check in process, Yoki made a specific note that he was a "hands off" host...but, there wasn't much you could do without his permission. Want the AC to be lower than 70? He needs to come into the home to lower it...even in 109+ degree weather. Want the hot tub to be on at night? He needs to do it himself. Want access to cleaning supplies because the house didn't come with paper towels, extra toilet paper, or trash bags? He's gotta come to the home and open up a locked closet. Want to cook stuff on the stove using advertised amenities? Oh, there aren't any, so I guess you gotta buy your own! I mean, are we on vacation or am I living with my 98 year old communist grandpa? Lol. I mentioned to Yoki that the fridge in one of the guest rooms was literally falling off its stoop and being balanced by a sponge (lmao yes, a freakin sponge)...Yoki's reply? "It's not level, but it's certainly not falling over...it’s been like that for two years" as the refrigerator sways back and forth with every swing of the door lmfao. Anyway, some more highlights during this trip: Yoki (who reportedly lives down the street from the AirBnB) was noticed by some of my guests staring over the gated fence, looking towards the house, during an unannounced visit. When I asked him what that was about, he said he came to get the mail (as they do daily, apparently) and to check on the empty lot they own next door...riiiiight. On our second to last day there, we were all enjoying the pool when suddenly a gardener shows up with an obnoxiously loud weed wacker and is landscaping the fuck out of these bushes. I kid you not, shortly after the gardener left, a pool guy came through to "shock" the pool. Best part? We were never told of either guys coming...and to be honest, who schedules for house work to be done while guests are present? We had to vacate the entire backyard and pool for 2 hours while the weed wacker and pool guy did their thing.
TLDR: Want to be hosted by a passive aggressive host who feels the need to watch your every move and control what you can or can't do while on vacation? This is your place! Want to support a cheap landlord who couldn't care less about you having a good vacation? This is DEFINETELY a solid booking. Lol I'm just glad that we bought enough alcohol to forget most of the trip.