The property is beautiful and the house is quaint. Most of you will have a wonderful stay. We really didn’t. If you have young children, you may want to rethink your plans. We spent most of the week keeping personal items of the owners away from our 3 year old son. The window sills were layered with bugs and the screens in such poor shape that we could not open windows, so AC was on all week. The valances to 2 sets of blinds literally fell off, one as I was first opening it and one that we hadn’t ever touched, as we were falling asleep. The refrigerator did not work when we arrived. We used our own cooler for almost 3 full days. The “beach” is tiny, more perfect for a 3-year-old than adults, but we were unable to access it until almost the last day we were there because of a nest of nasty hornets at its entrance. In fairness, Lisa was responsive in working to resolve the issues of the hornets and the fridge.
Yet, the interesting part of the story is what happened after we left. We had only been out of the house for a very short time when Lisa called with a very different tone. She was not happy. My husband had taken the spread off a bed we did not use when setting up another room for our son. Lisa accused us of having additional guests based on this “evidence”. Did we rent a 3-BR house, or 2 beds? And, we couldn’t find all the Beanie Babies as we raced to meet the 10 am checkout, but figured the cleaning crew would find them. And, we inadvertently took an umbrella that looked like one that we had brought with us. We buy these umbrellas for $3-5 on the streets of NYC, but offered Lisa $20 off our deposit for our mistake. We never heard from her again or received our security deposit back.
Now, we agreed to $20 for a missing umbrella, but no refund of our security deposit and no further explanation? What about the inconveniences that made our stay considerably less than expected? Not to mention, spending a week trying to protect their things from a curious 3-year-old. If they don't want toddlers in the house, then they should say so, but if they’re going to welcome toddlers and the money their parents are paying for the house, then they should adjust the accommodations or their standards accordingly.