Venster Tiny House- Your window to wilderness

Two hours from NYC, close to skiing (hunter mountain/ Windham, Kaaterskill falls, Woodstock, Hudson, Saugerties.
Book us and make Hudson Getaways your base station for all kinds of adventures.

Enjoy facilities of a bigger house in a tiny form factor.
Heat/AC,
Queen bed,
Hot shower,
Kitchenette, cooktop, Fridge, Towels, linens, soap, coffee etc.


*Hudson Getaways is a small woman owned business. We offer discounts to our social media followers and to returning guests.
**Its a tiny house in the woods. At 144 sqft it's way smaller than a typical house. It appears bigger in pictures though.


FAQ
Is my rental secluded?
You will see lots of reviews mentioning the word "very private" to describe this place. However, the feeling of seclusion can be very subjective so I am just going to state some objective data and let you decide if it is private or not.

Our property is 8 acres, exactly the same as seven football fields. The big window and doors face the woods and no other structures are visible from them. We also added fence panels . We have attached a satellite picture of the property to give you a better idea.

There is a larger cabin on the property ( 30 meters away ) and another tiny house (called Dome) 30 meters from your front door. Your rental faces away from them and are NOT visible once you are inside .

We are located in a rural hamlet and a mile down the road there is a tiny town with two cafes , two bars and two restaurants. But your place is one New York block distance away from the street towards a tree filled uninhabited area, adding to the sense of seclusion.
We do have a doorbell camera but it only captures a small section of the deck. We can only see when people are stepping on the deck .


Can we drink the tap water?

We have well water and the water has hardness and sulfur. We have three sediment filters from 5 to 50 microns, one hard water treatment and one sulfur treatment system. Drinking non reverse Osmosis treated well water is a personal choice and we will leave it upto you. Please note that every morning the sulfur filter cleans itself and for those few minutes if you use the water it will smell of sulfur.

I have never been in a tiny house, what can I expect?

The "tiny house nation" style tiny houses are around 144 to 250 sqft, ours is 144 sqft. So, we are on the "smaller" side. Our guests have commented that its actually does not feel cramped. You will have heating, AC, hot shower, flushing toilet, kitchenette for basic cooking, small fridge, queen bed etc. You also have a private deck and a private outdoor fireplace to make S'mores and to grill. Like the house the hot water tank is tiny. It can only hold 7 gallons. So on a cold February night. with 117 F average water temperature, the shower will only last 5:40 mins at 2 GPM. (actual test results). In summer /or with lower water temperature or/ with lower GPM , it will last longer. After that you have to wait 15 to 20 minutes for the water to get hot again.


Does it have a flushing toilet?
Yes. However , it is very water efficient at 0.1 gallons as opposed to 1.6 to 3 gallons for regular toilets. Pressing a foot lever gravity flushes it and then half press it to fill the water back .

Are pets allowed?

Yes ! We love pets. We just require that they should never be left alone and please pick up after them. Our cleaning company charges a pet fee. If you forgot to pay it or decided to bring a pet last minute, please leave the amount as a tip to the cleaners. That way the cleaners get to keep the money and then they won't report the pet to the cleaning company. This also saves us the hassle of going back and forth with the cleaning company, reviewing the camera footage and ultimately paying it out of our own pockets. Also, please keep in mind that the house is really small at 144 sqft which may be too cramped for some large dogs.

I work from home, how is the WiFi?

We have had multiple guests who worked from home during the pandemic. Our provider is spectrum (the monopoly in the area). Luckily, outages are very rare and get fixed promptly (you may have to restart the router). Speed is always good for multiple simultaneous video calls and movie streaming.

Can we grill/BBQ/ have a fire?
First of all safety. open fires can cause forest fires and hence are not allowed in the area. However, we provide a closed fireplace that's much safer. You can barbecue, grill, makes s'mores etc. Please use it for fire and do not light a fire anywhere else including candles.


Do you provide firewood?

Not yet! But most stores - Walmart, Dollar General, Stewart gas station etc. sell them. **You do NOT need firewood to heat the house**

What about Towels-Soap-Linens-Hot water? Is there heating/cooling? Can we cook?

Yes! Yes! Yes! and Yes!. Think of all the amenities a hotel provides plus a tiny kitchen. Hot plate, refrigerator, electric kettle, drip coffee, plates, cutlery - we have all that we could cram into the tiny space. Our guests use the outdoor fireplace for BBQ and smores!

Can I check in early? or Check out late?

No and Yes. Due to the super strict covid19 cleaning process, we can no longer offer early check in. However, we can offer late checkout up to an hour. Please inform us in advance so that the cleaning crew can adjust accordingly.

How far are you from X?
Just put Leads, New York in the maps app and that almost accurately shows where we are. 15 mins - Hudson, 35 mins- Albany, 25 mins- Kaaterskill falls. We are very close to exit 21 off of I-87.

What's your cancellation policy
VRBO has their cancellation rules baked into the algorithm in the app (check their website). However, We try to be a little bit more accommodating. If you have to cancel and the app does not offer you any refund, let us know. If we get a rebooking for those dates we will pay you all that we got from the rebooking. We may have to reduce the price to ensure a rebooking and VRBO will not refund you their share. So your refund will be less than what you paid. Also, our policy forbids us from accepting any alteration requests unless the request is to add days to your stay. (That is, alteration requests that changes the check IN date or changes the check OUT date that is less than the original checkout date will not be accepted). So instead of sending alternation request, cancel your existing reservation and make a new one. All the policy stated above for cancellation will apply, so you may not get any refunds for the cancellation unfortunately.. All refunds will be processed from our side 15 days after the original checkout date because of the delays associated withVRBO's payment processing.

I don't want to drive a car. Can I still get there?

It's possible but it won't be very convenient. Our other location in Palenville is walking distance to the bus station and also in summer there is a trolley that takes you to all the hiking spots and little towns. This location is a little too far for walking and there is no trolly transportation.
1. Amtrak from Penn station NYC to Hudson
Train Frequency -- Every hour during week days
Duration -- 2 hours
Train fare -- typically $35
Distance from Hudson train station -- 14 mins drive
From the station -- Uber (hit and miss) or by calling local taxi services like "coxackie taxi".
Unlike NYC, you won't find taxis waiting outside the station.
-->>TO<<-- the Hudson station -- Uber/lift is almost impossible to find. You can try it, otherwise, calling taxi is the only way.
The Hudson station is located in the beautiful Hudson with excellent restaurants and cares within walking distance. The train ride itself is very scenic, along the Hudson river.



2. Bus ---Trailways /Greyhound to catskill, Saugerties or Kingston and then taxi ( Uber is easy to find from Kingston)
The nearest bus stop is Catskill park and ride. 1.9 miles ( 40 min walk)
( However. there is no shelter against the elements there for rainy / cold days.

The nearest little town to your cabin is Leeds. it's about 25 minutes walk. it has two bars, two cafes and two restaurants.


What is your extenuating circumstances policy?
VRBO defines extenuating circumstances as anything that prevents a guest from staying at the property, which is beyond the control of the host. Loss of power, water, heat and damages caused by previous guests or nature are included. Our policy for such a situation is to issue a full refund for calendar days starting from the day of the circumstances to the checkout day. Since this is a special case, VRBO handles it by phone. Please message me on the app about the situation and I will respond with " I hereby agree to issue a full refund for the remainder of the stay". Then proceed to call VRBO. VRBO will then call me to verify.Please note that it is a multi-step process, so it may take a few hours.

I have seen a lot of news reports/tiktoks where they put invisible ink to show that hotels don't really change sheets between guests. How do you make sure that doesn't happen?
We have seen those videos too and it's gross! We've been using a midsize local cleaning company for a long time and they have been spectacular. Only issues we've ever had were when they sent someone new to clean but those incidents are few and far between. To further tighten the quality control, We now use a separate service to do the laundry. They send the clean laundry in a zippered bag. The linens remain sealed until the guests arrive, so that guests can rest assured that they are going to use freshly washed lines and towels.