Poorly managed, low-quality rental takes away from the postcard views & otherwise lovely property. Be very clear about expectations/fees before you book.
For the price, we expected a little bit of luxury—at least the basics. Amenities were either missing, in minimal amounts, or the lowest quality (scratchy, stained, towels, awful single-ply toilet paper, etc). When we inquired about additional paper towels, toilet paper, etc, we were told the listing comes only with a “starter kit” and not enough to get through an entire stay (5 days)—we would need to provide that ourselves. No dishwasher detergent, kitchen sponge, lotion, & 2 laundry pods. The nearest store was a 30-min drive away. We wish we’d known this before booking so we could have brought what we needed.
If you’re concerned about COVID-19 exposure, stay away! While the posting touted downtime between tenants, a 3+ hr maintenance had been scheduled to take place in the middle of our stay. The host said it’d be "a maintenance guy checking on the thermostat. He’ll stay in the basement & won't come upstairs into the living space." The 2 maintenance people arrived & asked to use the bathroom. He had instructions to go into the house for other repairs/updates. The service involved coming in/out of the living area throughout. Clearly, the maintenance people were meant to enter the house w/ their tasking. This was extremely frustrating for us, forcing us to leave the house for several hours. The concern for COVID added anxiety to what was supposed to be a relaxing getaway.
The “fully-stocked kitchen”= disappointment. It’s a random assortment of ‘extras’. The 2 small frying pans were terribly scratched/rusted and should be thrown out. If you plan to cook, consider bringing your own pan. Instructions were inconsistent/confusing. Signs around the house mentioned potential fees to the tenant: using more than 2 bags of trash during the stay, doing laundry more than 2x/day or doing laundry on check-in/check-out days, leaving the trash in the wrong location.
We did enjoy our stay despite our complaints. The porch view belongs on a postcard. The neighborhood is mostly quiet. Sheep Nose and Thunder Butte are crowd-free hiking trails. From the house, you can walk to a nice lake. Overall, with minimal effort from the management, the property could be worthy of a 5-star review. Corner-cutting and penny-pinching need to stop. And COVID exposure is a major health concern.