It was a crazy time to be in Joshua Tree with the snow and wind and with all that, we had a really lovely visit. The house was nice and a good setup for two friends getting together.
There were several things that are important to bring to attention that made the experience frustrating - particularly considering the large amount paid for three days.
1) The house never felt warm enough throughout the stay. We had each of the 3 units set at 85 degrees in hopes that it would warm the house to anything above 70, but it never got warmer than about 65-68 degrees. When the management company was contacted, there was no resolve to making the house warmer.
2) The listing clearly states that there were 2 separate hot tubs and yet, there was only one. This was a disappointment because with the very high winds coming from the other side of the house (where the hot tub was), we were unable to use the hot tub because there was no barrier to the wind. Further, there were exposed wires on the patio where the other hot tub was removed.
When this was brought to their attention, their reply was,
“We did our best to update the listing and photos, so sorry if we may have missed something that said otherwise. We have checked our listing and photos again to make sure nothing mentions the old arrangements, apologies again for any confusion there.”
This is an egregiously false statement. To date, the listing continues to state differently, and the pictures also still indicate there are two hot tubs
3) The firepit on the side with the missing hot tub also did not work and it was far too windy to use the other one.
4) There was only one wine glass for the entire home. While it wasn't a big deal to use another juice glass for wine, for the price of the home, one would easily expect there to be more than one glass.
It was a huge disappointment that two of the features that we valued in our selection of a home (hot tub and firepit) were not available to us.
Of even bigger disappointment was how Homestead Modern chose to address our concerns – which was to blame us for not doing even more to solicit help in rectifying the heating, hot tub, and firepit concerns. They referred to our concerns as mere “hiccups”. Blaming the lessee for the improper management of the rental, and not taking responsibility (as the management company), is never a sophisticated way to manage when you fall short.