Unfortunately my experience at Erik's place was well below the standard I hold SuperHosts to. While the rainfall shower was amazing, Erik was quick with most of our communications, and the location was great, the cons certainly outweighed the pros. While I do not intend for this to be a laundry list of bad things, I am being honest so that the next guest knows what my experience was.
Contingent on booking this place, a late checkout time was approved by the host. It was not until the evening prior to checking out that I had to remind Erik of our previous agreement, to which he offered an adjusted accommodation (luggage storage with pickup earlier than agreed upon checkout time) due to another booking made for that day. While I never assumed the host would decline a booking for that day, he did not inform me of the change in plans until I inquired further upon receiving a seemingly automated checkout instruction message indicating a 10AM checkout time. Erik did eventually seem apologetic for the incident, however this was incredibly disruptive to our vacation. I appreciated the intent that Erik had to be accommodating of our trip, however the poor management and initial disagreement on the original agreement was minus one star.
Next up is the bit of quirks and inconveniences to the trip. Upon arrival to the house, the Wi-Fi was not working. This ended up being due to a 2nd access point that was hidden in a bedroom having been accidentally disconnected by someone prior to our stay. This could have easily been avoided had anyone familiar with the property been there before we arrived (there was a red light on the one access point in the common area). Though it was a simple fix, it was not until we knew where the other access point was, which was not until the morning after our first night there due to our late check in time. This resulted in our entire first night not having Wi-Fi. In addition there was a water filter system attached to the kitchen sink that was not working at the time of our stay. Upon inquiry Erik informed me it was leaking and supposed to be off. Knowing there is a $300 security deposit on this place, I expected everything in the unit to be in working condition upon arrival, or at the least communicated clearly if otherwise. The pullout bed was also incredibly uncomfortable for an adult to sleep on. If you are traveling with a group requiring more than two beds, this is something to take into consideration. For all of these, minus one star.
Lastly the house rules. At the time of this review, there were little to no house rules communicated either via the listing or during pre-check in correspondence. That being said, I have never stayed at an Air Bnb that charges a decently sized cleaning fee AND requires the guests to do most of the work. Upon arriving to the house, there was a list of chores to be done by the guests prior to checking out, which was the first time seeing this information. In addition, there were cobwebs in one of the rooms, indicative of a simple vacuuming/sweeping of the space has not been done in a long time. While I do not mind doing some clean up prior to leaving the property, the cleaning fee, which is set by the host, does not reflect the work being done by whoever is cleaning the property and it is unfairly deceiving to whoever is booking the property the expectations while staying here. This lack of transparency is the result of minus one star.
There is no question that Erik cares about his guests' experiences at his place, however this time he came up short. I am confident Erik will utilize this to create a better experience for future guests and as a host.