I’ll start by saying that the location of this beach cottage is great — it is literally a few steps from Lake Erie and sandy beach, and not too far from the community’s nice salt water pool. The home is pretty well kept, though there were some issues:
(1) The owner had us pay outside Vrbo for extra cleaning fees that were not listed on the property listing, which we felt obligated to pay for fear that the cleaning person would take the hit. We’re not sure what the extra cleaning $$ was supposed to cover, b/c the home was not super clean upon arrival. The bedsheets on a few beds (linens weren’t even supposed to be there) had hairs and dead spiders. The home had many cobwebs on every floor, which we were having to use our time to vacuum (with kids underfoot).
(3) There were mice droppings inside the kitchen cabinets. Every dish we tried to use from the cabinets needed to be cleaned before using because they were sticky, had dried food on them, etc. (not to mention the mice issue).
(4) Our first afternoon there, we followed instructions given to us by the owner to “please rinse off sand outside using either the hose or the outdoor shower.” We did this using the outside shower, and it ended up flooding the inside of the home’s basement, where part of our family was staying. All of our items sitting on the floor, like suitcases and kids toys/clothes, got soaked with drainage water. Upon calling the owners, one of them said, “Well, not many people even use the outdoor shower!” …like it was our fault. We were following written instructions. 3-hr cleanup + lots of laundry time in a home we’d just arrived in. Couldn’t use the outdoor shower the rest of our trip.
(5) Quick note that this property is not little-kid friendly; glass top tables and breakable decorations need to be watch and moved.
(6) There is only one fob given — this fob not only lets you into the community, but also lets you in *and OUT* of the pool area. So if you have friends or family staying with you, you must plan to have people shuttling the fob to people who need it, to either go shopping, get in and out of the pool, etc.
Location, again, is wonderful and we could tell the owners try hard to keep the home up. Knowing all we know now, we would stay again.