My experience was nice.
First the cons:
I stayed for 2 night totalling over seven hundred dollars and as per my receipt this included a one hundred and fourty five dollar cleaning fee. however upon arrival I quickly realized I would be required to do a variety of household chores including laundry, dishes, taking out trash, taking out recycling and cleaning the grill. These are not big asks however I feel as though they are courtesy chores you would do if a friend is let you crash at their house for a night or two and felt they were in an inappropriate ask when there is a high value monetary exchange in place.
The chores were identified when you first walk in on a list. Additionally, however, in each room of the house there was posted sign identifying the required chore and then further identifying that if you did not complete said chore there would be an additional fee taken from you, for me these notes created a 'walking on eggshell vibe' that I did not enjoy.
For example I am a cook and I purchased a bunch of vegetables to grill out however upon reading about the grill there would have been a $50 fine if I forgot to clean it, this coupled with the fact that there were no grill cleaning tools that I was able to find meant that I did not end up using the grill.
As mentioned I am a cook so I was excited about the ads claim to a gourmet kitchen however the kitchen was very small and consisted of appliances from the early 1990s which were all yellowed. Again there was a note posted in the kitchen saying that if there was an issue with an appliance that I did not report I would be responsible for forfeiting my $700 security deposit there is no way that those appliances cost more than $50 each so I felt this was an aggressive note to stumble across. In regards to the kitchen, as mentioned I purchased a bunch of root vegetables to cook however none of the four chef's knife were sharp enough to even pierce the skin so instead I had to use a serrated butter knife to cut through root vegetables this was not a gourmet experience.
This was the last stop on my vacation and I had a lot of laundry to do and was excited to be able to do a load, however, there was no laundry detergent available and I had already been to the store and did not feel like going back. So I was not able to do my own laundry nor was I able to complete the chore of doing the house laundry before I left.
Another note posted on the back door said that if I forgot to undo the latch before I left there would be another fee charged to my account. With an early flight I knew that I would there was a 100% chance that I would forget to do this so instead I slept with the lock unlocked. As a solo traveler this was not ideal.
The decor was nice however it was a little more dated than I had hoped and when I first walked in there was a smell (although not strong one) that indicated their must have been a doggie that lived in the home. This was non-issue once I opened up the sliding doors however the house stay pretty chilly with the doors open throughout my stay.
I am a private person and the balcony was not private and the neighbors had a very direct view to me and I to them I did not spend a whole lot of time on the balcony although it was lovely. Due to the configuration of the balconies it would not have been difficult for someone staying in an adjacent apartment to get onto the my balcony so for the first night I did not feel safe enough to leave the door open and enjoy the sound of the waves while I slept. However the second night I did end up leaving the slider door open to hear the waves and it was amazing.
I have a master's degree in architecture and engineering and for the life of me I could not get the cable to work in the bedroom this was not ideal.
I've read through some of the other comments and have not found a single line of similar complaints so take mine with a grain of salt. I adhered to all of the house rules and completed all of the chores but for my money I felt a little bit too much like I was had to walk on eggshells and didn't get the full chilled-out California Beach vibe that I was hoping for from the space.
Now the pros:
The view was entirely epic, the sound of the waves we're amazing and the location was everything you'd want it to be. Upon arrival the house was spotlessly clean and the host was kind enough to let me check in at 2 p.m. rather than 4 p.m. which was very kind and was a very big help to me. The home was indeed spotlessly clean which was wonderful. The bed was unbelievably comfortable and incredibly cozy and warm. The floor plan was open an airy and the carpet throughout the house was incredibly plush on the toes! The Host left a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates which was a very nice gesture. Additionally, as a wonderful surprise there were two passes to the Monterey aquarium which had not been on my agenda but I ended up going and it was absolutely amazing. Also the self check-in was very convenient. So all in all, although this Airbnb wasn't my style and I won't be returning to it, the trip was lovely.