When we checked in we were super excited to be in a house after being in an apartment. We were house hunting and airbnb'ing in the meantime.
The first thing that we noticed was that the AC wasn't working properly. We notified Airbnb and Ivette. It took 2 separate occasions for a technician to come and fix it. This was very concerning to us because Austin gets incredibly hot in the summer and is in the middle of a heat wave where if the AC isn't working it becomes unlivable. After being "fixed" by the technician who confirmed that cold air was indeed blowing into the house, the temperature in the upstairs would not go below 77/78 degrees F during the day. So for those who can't tolerate the heat, this would not be a good place to stay.
During the communication with Ivette in regards to the AC Airbnb requested that a refund for the days that we didn't have AC working, be given. When that exchange happened, Ivette continued to ask me how I'm going to compensate her for bringing my service dog. Now it's important to note that before staying at her place I had informed her that I have a service dog and she said that it was okay. But when negotiations were happening asking for a refund she repeatedly asked me how I was going to compensate her for bringing my dog. I responded each and every time that my dog is a service animal but she seemed to gloss over it. It finally reached a point where I asked her, is there a reason why you keep asking me?? Because at that point it feels like discrimination. I then told Airbnb that my host is not being understanding of the fact that I have a service animal even though I mentioned it to her prior to staying at her place.
Now this is where it gets even worse, the fire alarm was blaring for 3 days straight during our stay. It was the blare that you get when the fire alarm is running out of batteries. The fire alarm is situated on high vaulted ceilings that you would need a ladder to access. It was a beep every few minutes the whole night. It was absolute torture. The second day the security system kept beeping. The third day the fire alarm would beep/blare. It was a nightmare and psychological, mental, and emotional torture because the beeps were so loud that it disturbs your overall being. And I would liken the beeping to Chinese water torture except, perhaps worse, because on some days you didn't know when it would malfunction. Turns out the fire alarm was out of batteries like we told Ivette. And the security system was going off because it was connected to the fire alarm. When she did get assistance to help us with the fire alarm it would take hours because her house manager lives an hour away in Round Rock. And when she had people show up, she didn't notify us. There was once a lawn mower maintenance guy who showed up in the backyard when the glass door to the backyard is completely transparent which is an invasion of privacy.
The helpfulness and communication with Ivette was awful. It felt like she blamed us for the problems rather than trying to work with us to solve them.
Overall, I would say the listing itself was fine. The location was great. The towels and linens were all bleach stained. But the hospitality of the host was abysmal.