The good, the bad, and the ugly!
I am also a air bnb host myself so I like to be thorough with my reviews. Unfortunately, my experience was one that had some negativity as part of my stay. But I will start with the good aspects and go on.
The good: Susan's place is just as pictured. The decor is very eclectic and beautifully put together. She has unique trinkets here and there and tons of books! Her sitting parlor is very pretty and the kitchen is a great size. The beds are comfy and the towels and bedding she provides are of good quality. Be aware, that the two bedrooms are right next to each other and are connected by a door, so privacy can be an issue if thats important for you. You can hear everything on both sides of the door. Also be aware the tv, is not centrally located, there is only one in the smaller bedroom. The bathroom is a good size and was clean. Susan left cute soaps and lotion for our use in the bathroom as well.
The bad: one of the stars I deducted is because the kitchen could have been cleaned better. There were dirty dishes in the dishwasher, dirty glasses in the cabinet, the microwave and fridge were not wiped down, the house surfaces were quite dusty. So if you have bad allergies or asthma this could be problematic. My mother and law has
asthma and my fiancé has allergies so you can imagine how that went. Also note that the furnaces are very old and very loud when you turn on the heat. When the pipes are heating up, it sounds like someone is breaking in the house! So if you are a light sleeper, that can be an issue as well.
The Ugly: To be honest, I'm being generous in only deducting 1 star for this but I'm giving Susan the benefit of the doubt that she will learn from this experience. On my first night of arrival, it was 40 degrees outside and just having flown in from Miami FL, my family and I were cold. This house is old and very drafty. I didn't know how to turn on the heat so I text Susan around 7pm asking if there was central heat and how I turn it on. I saw there was a Nest thermostat but it wasn't working. It had a blank screen and would not turn on no matter how many times we fiddled with it. Susan told me she was at her mom's bday dinner but that she would have someone come check on it for me. Nearly 2 hours later, I had not heard back from her so I messaged her to ask if someone was still coming, meanwhile we were all still wearing coats and bundled under blankets. She replied that she was almost at the house and that she left the dinner. Upon her arrival, she made me aware that she drove 2 hours from her mom's bday dinner to fix the issue ( she said it annoyingly). When she first came in the house she automatically snapped at me saying "i thought you said it was cold in here?! It's not cold!" She walked over to the Nest and fiddled with it and it happened to come on. The temp read 68 degrees (mind you, my house in miami is usually set at 78!). She immediately started verbally attacking me and talking down to me like I was a child. I was in such disbelief! She was so angry that she left her mom's dinner early because she felt that it wasn't cold in the house and there was nothin wrong with the thermostat. There was obviously a glitch in her system bc it wasn't working before she came, but also temperature comfort is relative and she was so unprofessional carrying on like she did. It wasn't until I told her that I too am a air bnb host and I would never speak so disrespectfully to a guest, that she started to change her tone! I honestly wanted to leave that night but it was nearly 10pm and I had my mother and law with us who was already coming down with a cold. Susan ended up half way apologizing for initially blaming me for her frustration and stating she was just emotional but I'm sorry, as a host you sign up for the responsibility of tending to your guests and their needs while they are at your place and she handled the entire situation so poorly. She could have easily called me to try and give me direction on how to use the thermostat but she didn't. She could have told me she was 2 hours away, but she didn't, or I would have told her to just come whenever she finished her mom's dinner. The rest of the weekend we didn't speak until the day I was leaving and I had to message her for checkout procedures. I would not stay here again. And if you do decide to stay here, just hope that you won't have to communicate with Susan much or hope nothing goes wrong that will inconvenience her.