I am sad to say that my family and I were terribly dissatisfied with our stay in the Bamboo Cottage. The location of the oasis is beautiful, the directions were easy to follow and the communication with Emberlie was easy, but the actual cottage was musty, had visible mold in the kitchen window, had spider webs in multiple places (including the shelving in the kitchen), the walls were badly scratched up (including random holes and nails on the walls), the bathroom was dangerous (3 out of 4 of us almost slipped as we tried to enter/exit the shower because of the high step up and slope of the tub walls), there was trash in the area above the bathroom over the bed and it was dirty, the only window that could be opened was in the bathroom that overlooked trashcans and a work area (when I opened it to let some of the moisture out, there was a man working on something almost directly outside of the window so I couldn't leave it open for long), the meditative pond outside of the cottage was not clean and had a glass that someone left from a previous stay and other debris by the seating area. Overall, the spaces were misrepresented in the pictures and the description on the listing. The pictures on the post make it look like there are several areas to explore. In reality, there are multiple visitors at the same time and most of the areas are either directly in the path of their guest accommodations, are Raine's private space or you have to pay a lot of extra money to have access.
My husband booked this spot hoping that I could book some of the relaxing wellness experiences, but once we saw the spaces and how unkempt the Bamboo Cottage was, I didn't want to spend more money and be disappointed.
My husband and I agree that the space has a lot of potential but is not maintained at a level that deserves the amount of money it costs to stay. I believe that the space should be more accurately represented in the pictures or maintained better. The toilet/shower space is narrow an would not accommodate all guests equally. Older guests can easily become injured in the bathtub or by slipping on the loose tiles on the floor. There were hazards everywhere from extension cords and power strips.
We returned from a wonderful day in Santa Cruz to discover that the cottage smelled so badly of mold and must that we could hardly handle it. We had to leave the door open, although cold in the cottage, to try to air it out. The smell never went away. Mold is a health hazard and should be cleaned/resolved before you allow any other guests to stay there. Humidity is clearly an ongoing issue in the cottage and proper ventilation needs to be added.
We were also surprised to find that the cottage is connected to Emberlie's residence. Although there weren't any disruptions, our stay did not feel like we had a private space in nature as advertised in the post. The chair on the porch was dirty when we arrived, there was rotted wood and mold on the overhang directly over the porch and front door and the redwood mulch pathways were not maintained well.
The "bedroom" is actually just a bed, not a room as there is barely room to walk past the bed to get to the bathroom. There was a pillow and what looked like used sheets shoved under the bed. This is not an adequate accommodation for a family of 4 as advertised in the listing. The futon was horribly uncomfortable to sleep on and I woke up with the worst stiff neck the second night.
I have never given a negative review or have had an experience such as this at an Airbnb. This stay was the worst part of our 10 day road trip. I want to give an honest review so that other folks can make a good decision for themselves. I'm hopeful that the other accommodations at the Oasis are in better/cleaner and make for a nicer stay. By the looks of the reviews, the other accommodations are very different from the Bamboo Cottage.