House is good, but......
Submitted: April 20, 2013
Stayed: March 2013
The house is fine and as described. If we were rating only that, our rating would be good or excellent. It is a lovely place in a nice neighborhood. There are nice flower arrangements and interesting art. (not a good place for rambunctious children!) (Thank goodness ours were well behaved!) It worked perfectly for us since it literally had 3 private spaces. (But bring earplugs especially for the top floor bedroom if you are a light sleeper -- there is, as in much of San Diego, highway and airplane noise). Our only complaint about the house itself -- relatively minor -- was that the bbq was too rusty and did not work. The disappointment and negative for us derived from the fact that it is not owner operated as it says on this website but is operated by Pacific Coast Vacation Properties who have some trouble communicating with renters. We were literally forced to buy deposit insurance (so be warned that it will be an additional cost) and heavily pressured to buy cancellation insurance. Emails about these issues were not answered promptly before arrival which led to unnecessary stress on our part. Our early check in at 1:30 PM, that had been confirmed in an email was not communicated to cleaning staff and we were only able to get in because they very kindly allowed us in, warning us that we might be charged an extra day (which we were not). Its really too bad that we experienced these unnecessarily unpleasant interactions because if we had not, we would recommend the place more enthusiastically. It certainly deserves a higher rating than we give it, if one considers only the accommodations.
Owner's Response: This is the email we sent to the guest after their review of our home.
I wanted an opportunity to address the concerns which led to your less than favorable review of our home and service. In your review, you mentioned you were ‘forced’ to buy damage insurance. I know my reservationist spent a great deal of time explaining why we require the $39 security deposit insurance. She sent you the details of the insurance both from our website and from our insurance carrier. You exchanged multiple emails with her as well. We were never able to satisfy your objection to the charges, which are standard for our company and all our guests, and yet you rented the home anyway. Personally, when I don’t agree with a company’s policies, I simply don’t use their product. I certainly don’t expect them to change their policies for me. You were under no obligation to reserve the home if you were dissatisfied with the policies we use to protect our owners and our guests.
In regards to an early check-in, yes, we did go above and beyond and issued you an early check-in even though we rarely do so. I do apologize that the cleaners were still there when you arrived, but they were doing extra cleaning for you because you had concerns about your allergies. At your request, we purchased and provided you with hypoallergenic pillows. This is something we normally don’t provide, but in our attempt to go above and beyond to make our clients (you) happy, we accommodated your request. Furthermore, we took all the linens offsite and washed them in machines with a steam setting to kill/destroy any allergens you might be allergic too. Both this additional cleaning and the pillows cost us quite a bit of extra time and money. If you had other concerns, we would have liked to have addressed them during your stay, but we weren’t made aware that you were dissatisfied until recently even though we contacted you while you were in the home.
Given the level of effort we put into making your stay a success, I feel your review of our performance was less than fair. We have only 5 star reviews on our site and work extremely hard to make sure each customer has a stellar experience with us. Consequently, our properties and company have been featured in news articles and on TV. The hospitality business is extremely challenging, given the variety of customers we service, and while we strive to do our very best to meet all their expectations, we know we will never make everyone happy.
Helpful votes: 3/3
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