House On The Hill - Vacation at the G-P Ranch

I wish I could give more than 1 star because the owners are really nice but there were a lot of things I wish had been better. First off, this is a duplex with someone living in the other unit with a shared wall and door. So you will not have the property to yourself (did not know this ahead of time and had no mention of this in the posting). The host from the other unit was very nice and friendly and left us to ourselves though. The place needed more cleaning, the jetted hot tub we tried to use but water was brown and left the bottom of the tub brown after we drained it after right after filling it. Inside of toilets were dirty black. Bring bottled water because the tap and fridge water was undrinkable (taste and odor).

Nice and spacious home. Home owners were very friendly.

We were impressed by the photographs display on VRBO and decided to book. I gave 1 star because the owner was quick to respond to all emails. However the property itself was a huge disappointment as listed below:

1. There is no dish washer. The explanation of the caretaker was that the drought conditions was why it was not there. Also, if drought conditions were the reason, why have the option of a huge Jacuzzi for $50 extra? I'm sure people would like to enjoy there vacation and not be washing dishes all the time.

2. No disposal unit in the sink. Potential of blockage spoiling your vacation.

3. Broken towel holder, broken toilet paper holder in one of the bathrooms.

4. One bathroom has a shower head whose head has needle sharp spray which stings while taking a shower.The second bathroom has a tub only - no shower. I'm not sure why a bucket was not made available- if the drought conditions excuse was a valid excuse, I should be using minimal water using a bucket and not filling up the tub and wasting water.

5. Only about 12inchs counter space if you need to do some cooking!! A microwave occupies the remaining 18 inches - and that's all the counter space that's available. The oven stands free of any adjacent counter ( and the oven had a propane smell while burning)

6. Many corners had spider webs.

7. Needs an iron board and iron.

8. No leaving instructions on where to put the garbage, used linen etc.

9. The constant smell of horse manure when you step outside.

10. Kitchen needs a better set of knives. The current set of steak knives cannot be used for other purposes(need sharpening) Even a bottle opener was not found in the provided kitchen utensils.

I left a list of improvements with the care taker. Hopefully the next person booking gets a better experience.

I would not recommend this property until the above mentioned amenities are fixed for an enjoyable experience.

Stayed 30/31 Dec 2016