Game changer. Staying at Darian’s impressed upon me the degree to which a great host and thoughtful lodging can elevate your stay wherever you are. My experience reminded me of why people choose Airbnb and has made me rethink how I'll approach future travel.
My experience was just that - an experience. I travel fairly regularly for both work and pleasure and at some point had let my lodging choices trend toward whatever "does the job" and not much more. But with my stay at Darian's, I got something I didn’t even know I wanted and now my standard for future Airbnb stays has probably been raised to an unreasonable height.
The House:
The house looked great, better than it did in the pictures, but what did it for me were the details and the thoughtfulness that I hadn't expected (location was great too). The backyard, the speakers, the kitchen amenities, etc. were premium. I'm far from an interior design expert (I consider hiking maps and my framed Sports Illustrated cover of Tiger's 2019 Masters win good art) but I and a few of the guys (ten total) that stayed at the house ended up taking some time to appreciate and comment on some of the house's art, furniture, and history. Speaking of Tiger - even the putters for the putting green were of notable quality and got everyone going.
The Host:
The house was great, but Darian was the game changer. I'd never had a host as collaborative or engaged as she was. Darian reached out several days ahead of the stay to help out with planning (first time in Austin for almost all of us - we were celebrating a friend) and I felt like she was really invested in making sure we had an unforgettable, wrinkle-free weekend. I was in charge of organizing the trip, so I found this to be paramount - I felt like I had a teammate heading into the weekend. She was super responsive and thoughtful throughout our stay, too. Darian helped me out with pulling off a couple surprises around the house (and had even offered to help arrange a few things beyond the house), suggested fun and creative ways to meet new people while out enjoying the town, and made numerous restaurant/brewery recommendations we ended up taking - on several occasions we were tempted to invite her out just to say thanks.
Great house, great host, wouldn't hesitate to stay here again.