There was a little hiccup in finding the promised on-prem parking in the back alley but the house itself was in a very good condition. Google Home Assistant was nice and we joked a little while getting the lights turned on and temperature set to our liking. But the fun and good experience ends right here.
While we were on our long drive to San Jose, the host texted me that the garbage disposal was broken by the previous guests so it’s not to be used. We did use the kitchen sink (minus the garbage disposal) to wash dishes but the drain was already clogged as the water was draining quite slowly. I’ll come back to it in just a moment.
This house most probably has some audio recording device (in addition to Google Assistant, of course) that the host listens to. My cousins laughed at some joke and after a few minutes, got a text from the host that he got noise alerts and if everything was ok. It was a very polite and careful message but I know better now.
Then there were no garbage bags for the big garbage can in the kitchen. The host sent the housekeeper in the morning who entered the house without permission. And after leaving, kept peeking through the window with hands cupped around his eyes. It was quite creepy but we took it lightly.
The lock of shared bathroom doesn’t work. So we had to used a custom made tag to let others know that it’s occupied or not.
Now the worst part of it all. After checking out, the host blamed us for clogged kitchen drain and demanded $200. Remember the damaged garbage disposal? It’s just one sink in the kitchen and that garbage disposal is on the same drain. Not sure if it was really damaged by the previous guests, as the host told me, or if it was kept as damaged to scam money from new guests, but it was used by the host to get extra money from us. The claim is still being assessed by Airbnb.
As a final note: I won’t recommend this house for any stay of any length unless someone wants to get ripped off and being spied upon.