Did we enjoy our stay? It was ok. Loved the little town of Julian, and the deck on the home was the best part to his house.
First, I will start with the communication. I put in a question to Matt before booking. He responded quickly, so we booked it.
Next - Matt proceeded to send me a total of SIX messages with WAY too much info - and making us feel like he really didn't want guests to stay at his place. Example - I originally told him I was bringing my little dog, to which he replied with:
"If you have any pets , you need to let me know, I need assurances that they are trained, and will not be allowed in the beds, on the sofa, dining table other furniture etc., and have their own beds/crates, and any accidents will trigger professional carpet cleaning charges. I have had quite a few incidents and out of courtesy I never charged, but allowing pets is also creating situations for me, but I understand that pets are like family members, so please assure that your pets will be taken care of." ALSO - "I've allowed pets so far but going forward I will have to stop allowing pets because of numerous incidents and right now I'm facing another incident.." Is this necessary?
VERY off-putting, too much over-explaining in emails. Example #2: "Appreciate if you don't try to pull the sofa & handle it gently, previous guests have not followed my requests and did not know how to operate it and caused issues."
I do not need the backstory of every little issue this person has had to deal with. I'm sorry to hear that people have not taken care of his property, however, I am a great guest and have used vacation rentals for years and would not dream of messing up someone's space. I understand that if you are renting out your property you should expect issues/damages etc. But do not put that on your guests before they arrive.
The lockbox code was written several times in one of the messages, however, when we arrived to the home (it's March, so it was cold) I could not find the code anywhere because I had to search through so much information this guy sent me, that my family was cold, tired from traveling & annoyed.
Finally - the place was dirty, we had to wash every dish, cup, fork we used BEFORE using them. The kitchen utensils were so cheap. Did not trust the empty brita. Couch is a futon - and so uncomfortable to sit & watch tv. Place felt so dirty and bare bones that we didn't feel comfortable using the showers. Sadly I would not recommend this place.
