Our August stay was a disappointment for all. Please do your research on this property, and look at all 7 listings/reviews Debbie has for this house, including the listings for the separate one-bedroom option located in this same house. The different listings each have their own sets of reviews, some more flattering than others. Had some of Debbie's policies, procedures, and expectations for the property been outlined in the listing prior to booking, as guests, we could have better prepared for our stay and/or selected a different AirBnB location that better fit our needs.
Our stay included nine adult women (aged 30-65, ie: not college-aged, or big-time partiers for background information). Overall, we left feeling as if our stay was a complete inconvenience for Debbie and Pat. We were aware that the owners would be onsite while we were there; we did not mind this fact when we booked. However, we didn't realize that this owner occupancy was tantamount to full-time babysitters. Debbie spent the majority of our entire stay in their main living room, with the curtains open, which was right off of the main deck/patio. Whether they were watching us or not, that is how it felt- as if they were constantly watching us at every moment whether we were inside or outside of the residence. We never felt comfortable enough to use the beautiful deck, because would have literally been able to make eye contact with the owners. Again, clarifying that we knew the space would be owner-occupied- this was less privacy than was advertised.
Instead of the deck space nearer the house, we spent the majority of the outside time occupying the tables in the lower grass just to gain a bit of space/privacy. As we were leaving to board a boat that we had arranged for the day, Pat ran down from inside. He requested that we remove all of our packaged food from the picnic tables and move them into the closed gazebo, as they had "aggressive squirrels." All of our food was prepackaged, and we did not disrespectfully leave open bags of food readily available or strewn about. It was quite apparent that we had been observed leaving the food out, and then we felt "scolded." Pat watched as we put our food into the proper place. These are not hard policies to follow, so long as you are informed that they are rules in the first place. Their request was not unreasonable, it was the negative tone and unpleasant feeling that we were left with -- we felt like we were treated as children making a mess, once again, we were an inconvenience. Having a Welcome Document listing rules would be a suggestion for the owners.
Pat was always very friendly, however, he checked on us quite frequently, to an unnecessary point. This included at 10:00 pm while we were out in the gazebo. This left us wondering if we were "breaking rules," somehow too loud with our talking, or being disrespectful in some way. We felt like teenagers being checked in on by their parents. When we all turned in at about 10:30 pm and headed into our rooms, Pat commented to us that he was surprised we were "turning in early!" He expressed that they have large bachelor party groups that stay up until 3:30 am. I do not see any reviews from any of these larger groups, but I can't imagine that we were louder or more egregious than previous guests with our behavior. This left us confused wondering what we were doing wrong if we were technically less rowdy than previous guests.
We were not aware that the multiple bedrooms of this residence would be rented out at the same time. This is an important piece of information that would be nice to have known prior to booking. Although we knew that the owners would occupy the house, we didn't realize there was a possibility for other guests to occupy the residence at the same time. This was not a problem, although we did feel added pressure to be quieter. More transparency about how the rooms are booked out in the listing would be appreciated.
We were lead to believe there would be "supervised" access to the kitchen, including using the range and microwave. In the listing and pictures, the kitchen is pictured with the caption: Kitchen available with permission and supervision. No smelly foods allowed like fish, liver, curry etc. Refrigerators available for guests in the lower level.
We did not know until Debbie emailed two days prior to our arrival (past the point of the cancelation policy or refund, to be sure) that we would only be provided a mini-fridge and some coolers. The fact that the fridge provided was a dorm-room-sized mini-fridge wasn't mentioned in the Airbnb description when booking, and ice for the coolers was not provided. To complicate matters further, the mini-fridge is located in the separate one-bedroom apartment that they rent out, so we weren't even provided access to this until the second day of our stay (because the bottom room was rented). One guest made a homemade cake with buttercream frosting- this went bad as we weren't able to properly keep this cool on the first night. One of our guests is vegan and brought her own dietary-friendly pizza. Debbie reluctantly allowed us to store the pizza in the kitchen freezer, but we were warned, "Don't you go looking for it. You need to ask if you want it." As respectful adults, who had not broken any rules prior to this exchange, this seemed to be a condescending rude statement. Our main complaint about the refrigerator access was just not having the accommodations clearly outlined in the listing so we could have better prepared; a simple note that we would need to provide our own ice would have been appreciated. The food that we chose to bring with us possibly would have been different if we had just realized we wouldn't be able to properly keep them cool.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, we requested to rent