The "cottage" is located in a nice area, close to downtown Palo Alto. Walking leisurely takes about 15min to 20min to CalTrain Palo Alto.
The room is adequate and given the price, I guess it is a value. Here are a few things I wished the host had told me before my booking was confirmed:
1. The backyard, where the cottage is located, is under renovation. There are two major trenches cutting across , for laying pipes. Unfortunately, the trenches pass in front of the cottage entrance. Thus, the entrance to the cottage was a woodboard running across the trench. Without enough lighting, it could be a hazard. (The days when I was there, there was rain so the woodboard was a bit slippery too).
2. The room itself has minimum amenities. There is a washer/dryer unit reserved for the owner to use. The bathroom is very small. The shower stall is about 2' x 2', so for someone like me (6' tall), turning around is a cumbersome. (The coldwater/hot water knobs are swapped so you need to put on cold water to have warm water shower). The sink's faucets are leaky -- if you turn to have normal flow of water, the water comes out from faucet and run to the floor. The host puts tower in the room to soak water from the sink as well as the shower head (because the stall is so small, the minute you turns it on, the water comes right outside of shower stall).
3. The bed is firm but I am okay with it. The desk is covered with a thick plastic board so working is not comfortable as the plastic board has warped so it is elastically uneven.
4. The room has a few chairs but no sofas. There is no TVs. The wi-fi is good.
5. The room has a space heater - it does get cold (in May). It was raining so especially cold. So I used the space heater, satisfactorily.
6. The linen etc seems clean. And the host provides a few cups to use.
For the money, I think you can get a 2-star or 3-star motel inn. This place is a value mostly due to its location.