We were three families, 6 adults and 5 kids. Highlights: good house, well stocked with lots and pans, close to Chicago so easy to get to/from. It was nice that there was a community pool and close access to the national park and Lake Michigan. The house was built in 2017, so everything is new and nice. The kids rooms are downstairs with their own living room and bathroom. The adults rooms are way upstairs on the second story, so it would be great for families whos kids are a little older. Ours were 3-6.
Cons: We probably wouldn’t have booked this property if the following had been made clear to us: the water in the community lake is disgusting. It had blue green algae and we didn’t feel comfortable letting our kids near it. The listing said it had access to a private lake, which is true, but it’s unusable for swimming. Some people used kayaks to fish and it was ok. The kayaks and other “sports equipment” that’s in the listing is not actually owned by the property and you have to book it through the community’s activity center. Other people booked the boats all day so we had no access to them. The house was not cleaned before we came; the floors were black and we mopped everything. They had put fresh towels on our beds and wiped the counters but the rest of the house was not clean. The house supposedly came with a “starter pack” which should have included toilet paper for each bathroom, 1 paper towel roll, 5 trash bags, dishwasher pods, laundry pods, dish soap. We did not have the trash bags, dishwasher pods, dishwasher soap, or laundry pods. The management was ineffective and rude. There was one nice woman, but she did not seem to be able to get anything done. All of the smoke detectors in the house were broken (pulled down from the ceiling). We called management 2x everyday about this list of issues and were told over and over that someone would come out. No one ever showed.
It’s frustrating because this place has the potential to be really good, but they aren’t managing it well