Pinecone Place - A True North Vacation Home

I certainly appreciate the feedback and wanted to openly address the honest and constructive feedback you offered privately so that other guests may benefit. We really wish we could provide a grill for our guests, but the risk of bear activity is too great to offer that amenity. The town and DEC have both reported a lot of bear activity in the area and with the natural food shortages they are becoming less and less cautious about pursuing anything that remotely smells like food. Freshly prepared food hot off the grill is not exactly the best deterrent. Rather than risk it we just disclose that a grill is not provided in the listing. This could be subject to change in the future if the town recommends that it’s safe to do so. Regarding the other annoyances you mention, those all seem to be technologically based and could probably benefit from better foresighted instruction on my part. You mentioned the TV’s losing internet connectivity, the control panel on the hot tub, and the control panel on the dishwasher. While all three of those amenities were fully functional without deficiency, I can see now that their operation is not always self-explanatory. Although I was accessible via phone, email, and text, I did help walk you through those procedures with an expeditious response, I can understand that could be an annoyance from taking time away to relax. I will take this advice to heart and put together some tips and tricks in a user manual and locate that information nearby the devices and/or provide them in the listing and welcome message. I hope future guests will benefit from my implementation of your suggestions. Thank you for helping make my place better.

Hi Lois, although we weren’t able to provide the 5-star experience that the majority of our guests are accustomed to experiencing, I sincerely appreciate your feedback and the kind words about the home and location. I’d like the opportunity to address those concerns so that future guests may benefit from fuller clarity. I agree, the Lockly smart lock is a tricky one. We installed that lock over a year ago when there was a chip shortage on the Schlage locks we’re accustomed to using which are much more straightforward and reliable. I took several hours to come up with what I thought were all the scenarios a guest could run into and then put together ‘Helpful Door Lock Info’ which I provide in my welcome message for all guests. Although it addresses the potential problems, that doesn’t always stop technology from throwing us for a loop. This is why I make sure to always be by my phone for your check-in and provide a manually retrievable backup physical key. As you mentioned, I was able to remotely let you into the cabin on more than one occasion within a minute of you attempting to enter. After the second time I gave you the scroll code to access the physical key that you could use for the duration of your stay out of convenience. Regarding the trash, I’m sorry you had to come upon the overflow in the locked shed. This was a one-time isolated event whereby my PM was not able to get to the cabin between reservations on account of the aftermath of his mother’s home being washed out in the recent town-wide devastating floods and subsequently tearing his bicep and not being able to lift anything, including garbage. In an incredible stretch of terrible luck I cut him some slack and gave him the time he needed to recover from his injury and helping out his mother. You’re absolutely right about the rug so thank you for that feedback. I’ve taken immediate action as of this morning in the purchase of a new one. My PM usually tapes down the one problem corner or pins it under the couch, but it’s clear now that it’s at the end of its useful cycle so I have ordered a new one which should be ready to go in a week. Can you please contact me and let me know which outlets were not working? If it’s anything other than a breaker needing to be switched back on (we get frequent storms) which is usually the case, then I’d like to get an electrician out there to diagnose and resolve. I thank you for your thoughts and suggestions and hope to continue to provide a top-quality experience for future guests. We’d love to have you back again so you can see the difference.