To be fair, the property itself has a good location and decent layout. Unfortunately dealing with the owner and the property manager had turned out to be a very unpleasant experience. They attempted to gouge the price during booking; failed to ensure the unit was clean and appliances were in working order; made wild claims of damages they were responsible for, and withheld the entire damag deposit without providing any written cost estimate.
There were warning signs of questionable ethical behavior at the time of the booking that we shouldn’t have ignored. We sent out a request to book in May for our Christmas stay. The owner did not respond and let the request expire. He then raised the rate when we sent out a second request. After consulting with VRBO, we were told that raising rates after a request is received is not allowed on the platform. After confronting the manager with the VRBO rules, they finally agreed to honor the original rate.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a life-sized butler mannequin by the door. Everyone was taken aback by this creepy-looking figure – he belonged in a haunted house and had no place in a family vacation home. We promptly covered his head with a blanket before he terrorized the children in the group. Unfortunately he “came back” to haunt us later in the stay.
As we walked through the unit, we were surprised and appalled upon the discovery of a pile of animal feces on the balcony. This property was advertised as “pet-free”, we had no idea how did the animal feces end up there.
Later that night, our friends staying in the master suite tried to turn on the fireplace in the room, nothing happened. Assuming the fireplace was not working, they pulled the pillows off of the bed and went to sleep. During the night, they were woken up by the smoke and realized the fireplace had turned on sometime during the night and one of the pillows close to the fireplace had caught on fire. They pulled the pillow away from the fireplace and put out the fire. The amber got on the carpet and caused a quarter-sized dark stain. The maintenance technician came out the next day and confirmed that the fireplace was not working properly. While it is the owner’s responsibility to ensure the property is clean and safe, Dan refused to take any responsibility and placed the entire blame on the guests. He made outrageous claims of costly repair without ever providing any written cost estimate. We hope our experience serves as a warning..