This place has a really cool set up on paper. During this COVID19 pandemic we were looking for somewhere to get away and lock the outside world out for a few days, lol. So when we read the reviews and saw the beautiful pics it wasn't hard to book it even if it was a little more than we wanted to spend. We figured it would be worth it for our family to not have to be around crowds or people like we would have to be if we stayed at a hotel. Better safe than sorry, right!
What I wish someone would have told me prior to booking...
The house isn't in the best neighborhood. It's not horrible, but a lot of the houses in the area have bars on the windows. That's never a good sign. So if this isn't something you are used to seeing it may be a bit worrisome to you.
The pictures on this listing I was told by Anthony and I quote "were taken before the house was ever rented, and everything was new". So I guess I was pretty surprised and not happy at all with the fact that the back yard furniture was very dirty and stained. The grill was also very dirty from whatever was cooked on there before. When I contacted Anthony to let him know there wasn't any real acknowledgement or apology for the way things were. I sent him several pictures of what the furniture and cushions in the back looked like, which were very dirty. And he insisted that they were clean and had been pressure washed before we got there. I also sent him pictures of the grill. Which he stated was also cleaned, just stained. There were also several cigarette butts left all over the backyard, and in the pool. It wasn't until after I told him that I was going to purchase sheets to throw over the outside furniture because they were so dirty that he offered to send over his people to re clean the backyard and bring some sheets. Also a side note that after the maintenance guys came to re clean and re pressure wash the grill and the furniture outside, it looked about 90% better. Which only tells me that it really wasn't done right the first time, or done at all. However we were still finding cigarette butts all over the yard everyday. It was pretty frustrating. Not something you want your kids picking up!! It also left a pretty strong stitch of wet cigarette smell in the background. As the wind picked up, the smell was overbearing especially as we were all in the pool. When I mentioned this to Anthony and he said that he's never had any complaints and it was probably the next door neighbor's smoking outside. Again no real acknowledgement, just an excuse.
On a positive note, when we initially got into the house we took our own disinfectant wipes and started to wipe down handles door knobs and stuff like that. Everything was pretty clean when it came to that stuff.
The beds were comfortable the sheets and the pillows were clean. My only complaint about the room was that we found dirty socks left in the corner under one of the chairs, and trash and a clean diaper behind a nightstand. After finding this stuff I decided to contact Anthony again to voice my concerns about the cleanliness of the house. Again no apology just excuses on why they can't possibly find everything in 4 hours. It was almost like he was irritated with the fact that I was calling to let him know what was found. Absolutely frustrating... Instead of letting it ruin our trip we made the best of it. The rest of the time went good, by the end we were even willing to stay one more night if we could, but it didn't happen. Anthony said they had to clean up for the next group of people coming in. Hopefully, they did a better job cleaning this time.
Also another thing worth mentioning is that a lot of the games are missing pieces including the games in the backyard. There isn't a volleyball net as shown in the picture, we were told it's being ordered. The jacuzzi is very small, and doesn't look very clean at all. When the maintenance people got their to re clean the backyard we we're told that it isn't working very well and they have one that they ordered but it's going to take a couple months to get there. At that point we had no desire to use it, so we didn't. Which kind of sucks because that was one of the reasons we rented the place. With the exception of the kitchen and the bedrooms and the bathrooms the common areas such as the backyard and the living room furniture could use some work. There were also white stains on the big bean bag in the living room which is kind of gross. Luckily I brought a sheet and so I just threw that over it the whole time we were there. We made it work.
Attitude is everything, and it can make or break a situation. I really wish Anthony would have acknowledged and took a bit more responsibility for the issues that we came across with his property. It definitely would have went a long way with us. It was nice that he did send people back to reclean the backyard, however his attitude about doing it kind of sucked. He was pretty defensive about how he's never had any complaints and how his Airbnb listing is a lot better than what is out there. Honestly, this is the first Airbnb that I've rented. So when he said that I really had nothing else to compare it to. I hope this review is helpful to anyone who is on the fence about renting this place.