Our family has rented homes and apartments with VRBO on countless occasions in the U.S. and in Europe, and this was easily the worst VRBO or AirB&B experience we’ve had.
Michael the owner seems really well-intentioned. He was communicative when I initially explored a late check-out, and he returned each of my text concerns with a call. That said, his assistance was pretty worthless – he ultimately never helped with any solutions to problems.
The home location can’t be beat. 10-15 minute walk to the River Run lodge and lifts.
The bad news: the home is run down and poorly maintained. Too many shortcomings to even list, including the most poorly-stocked kitchen we’ve seen, worn-out/stained carpets, awful mattresses, bed frame in the master bedroom has two wooden posts that you can’t lean on, as they’re each falling out, a gas fireplace that you can’t light (to which Michael responded, it’s for show anyway, you don’t need to light it). The list goes on and on.
Throughout the house, the owner has left random objects (book on counters, a bike helmet) that we couldn’t tell were meant to be charming or they were just forgotten. In addition to the general state of the place, we had two pretty significant disappointments:
1) Upon arrival, the home had no hot water. Owner apologized and realized he probably should have let us know. After an afternoon, evening and morning of cold showers, the hot water heater was fixed and online for our Day Two.
2) Unfortunately, when the hot water switch was repaired, the owner was unaware that the home thermostats needed to be reset. For that reason, we had no heat for the second day. After exploring solutions on our own (including calling our own contractor back in Colorado), the heat came roaring back on while we were asleep, rending the home boiling hot – awful sleep on Night Two.
It probably isn’t helpful to continue a further list of complaints. At the end of the day, we wouldn’t ever stay at this home again at any price. And some people may just want location, and they’ll put up with whatever the experience is. The real shame here is that this is a great location and potential home, and the owner could spend a few thousand bucks and fix nearly everything that’s wrong. Hoping that these comments are taken constructively and that the home is improved for future guests.