Unfortunately we found this house to be much worse than expected. There are very basic things that a guest would normally expect for a whole home rental (especially when paying very exorbitant 'holiday prices') that this place simply didn’t provide:
1) Lacking the courtesy to heat the home prior to our arrival – My elderly parents (one with dementia) arrived to a very cold home and were overall pretty horrified with the initial experience.
2) Price gouging – I get that during a holiday period that prices will be significantly higher than normal, what I don’t appreciate are places that triple their normal rate (we paid $300+ a night, it was absolutely not worth that, nor worth half that).
3) Sparse and barren – This house has none of the charms and comforts that many Airbnb hosts put into their places, very little thought given by the host a guest’s comfort. In fact, there isn’t a single flat surface in ANY of the bedrooms to place anything. No dresser. No desk. Nothing. My elderly parents and myself literally had our luggage splayed out on the floor. It was appalling.
4) Lack of essentials – With a whole home rental you expect things like dishes, pots and pans, etc. While this place had a number of these, we couldn’t find any bowls whatsoever, as well as other kitchen tools that one would expect. Coffee maker is provided without any coffee (honestly at $300/night I’m surprised this host isn’t providing K-cups or similar!).
5) Poor quality of furnishings and surroundings – In addition to a lack of basic things like a dresser or desk (literally the only place in this large 4-bedroom home where one can sit and do work on a laptop is on a single dining room table), the quality of what is there is poor. The dining room table chairs feel cheap and represent a bad tripping hazard. There are literally 2 cheap and dirty plastic chairs in the garden to sit on (one with a broken lightbulb on it).
6) Poor maintenance – The house overall seems a bit run down and old. A couple bulbs were out, including a large one in one of the bathrooms. Little thought was given to the back garden, it’s basically unusable as it is, no chairs, no ambiance, etc. The garage feels like a construction zone, with debris and tripping hazards. Poor maintenance when it comes to painting and structural repairs. And the fireplace didn't work (very disappointing especially at Christmas time)
All in all this was by far my most disappointing Airbnb experience ever (and most expensive), and I wholeheartedly would not recommend this home or this host to anyone. Avoid.