Hi Klarissa,
We are very sorry to hear that you were unhappy with your stay and that the cleaning was unsatisfactory. I have addressed the issues you raised point by point below to provide a fair and balanced view regarding your feedback and to indicate the actions we plan to take to avoid similar issues in the future.
With respect to the cleaning, we agree that the items you noted are unacceptable and, as you indicated in your review, we immediately offered to send the cleaners back to the unit to remediate the issues but this offer was declined. The response to this offer was "Ohh no all is good! Don't worry about any of it! I just wanted to make you aware. 😊". Given this response, my impression was that the cleaning issues, while frustrating, were not significant. We also want to note that we worked with the cleaners to accommodate your request for early check-in (four hours earlier than standard) at no extra charge, therefore the timeframe for turnover was greatly reduced. Additionally, there are issues noted in the review that were not brought to our attention. We have communicated all of the feedback provided to the cleaning company to address going forward. We understand that a clean property is of utmost importance to guests and is a priority for us in selecting a cleaning company. While we have had a couple of complaints over the past few years regarding cleanness of isolated areas of house, we have generally received positive feedback on the cleanliness of the property and based on our relationship with the owner of the company, we know that she takes pride in her business and will do everything possible to remediate any issues noted if given the opportunity. Additionally, given the early check-in time, we would have been able to work with the cleaners to return at a time that was convenient for you such that you were not waiting on them. However, this was not communicated to us as a concern at the time we offered to have the cleaners return.
As to some of the cosmetic issues, including the dry wall damage and the blinds, there are times when there is minor damage from guests that we may not be aware of or are not significant enough to interrupt a guest's stay in order to make repairs, but we will work to address these issues off-season. For example, we already have a replacement blind purchased but the worn blind you mentioned is in the common area stairwell and had only a small tear at the start of the rental season, but it seems that repeated use over the summer resulted in additional damage and we will replace before next season. This was also not communicated to us as a concern or inconvenience otherwise we could have easily had it replaced it for you.
With respect the trailer rule, this would have been an issue for you regardless of where you stayed as this is an Ocean City rule and is not specific to our property as the majority of properties in OC have trailer restrictions for their parking lots during the summer. We did notify you of this restriction a week prior to your stay and even researched alternative parking options on your behalf once we learned that you intended to bring a trailer. We have added a note to our listing to ensure that future guests have notice of this restriction prior to booking.
We apologize for the stress caused by the front door code failure. We have found that key code entry is preferred by guests as it is easier and more convenient than having a physical key. Unfortunately, such technology can fail, but we have multiple backup options in place to ensure that no guest will have to wait an inordinate amount of time to re-enter the property should an issue arise. As you noted, I did not answer your call, however I had mentioned to you prior to your check in time that I was out of town and that my husband should be your primary contact should any issues arise. Regardless, I did respond within 12 minutes and by that time you had already communicated with my husband who was able to provide you with a new code and you were back in the unit.
In your review you noted that there was a party in the parking lot. You did not raise this concern to us during your stay. Based on our experience, it is likely that you are referring to owners of neighboring units who enjoy sitting on beach chairs in front of their units while watching their kids and grandkids ride bikes and play. The community is a family friendly, neighborly environment and is not a party community. If there was more disruptive behavior observed, you could have communicated your concerns to us and we would have worked with our HOA management or the owners themselves to resolve this issue.
With respect to the bathroom size, the bathrooms are as shown in the pictures and there is nothing we can do to address the size. We have had many friends and family visiting who are tall and have not had an issue.
Finally, with respect to the crawl space under our house, this is a separate area accessible underneath the back deck through an access panel covering the entrance. Our listing does not include pictures of this space nor do we advertise the use of any of the equipment that we store in that area. Therefore, we do not think it is reasonable to find fault with our property for declining your request to use the personal belongings that we store in that area while our unit is being rented. We will be looking into options for locking the access panel to this area in the future as we have not previously had renters attempt to access that space and are not comfortable that you did so.
Again, we are sorry that you had poor experience at our property. Given our communications over text and phone, you did not give any indication that you had this level of dissatisfaction with your stay. We would have been more than happy to work with you to try to resolve the issues to better satisfaction had the concerns been raised to us. As owners of a rental property we rely on fair and honest reviews of our property to attract future renters. If we are not given an opportunity to address issues that you encounter or if you do not communicate those issues to us, we are unable to ensure that you have the best stay possible. Furthermore, many of the comments you left are beyond our control (i.e., trailer restrictions and bathroom size), were not communicated to us (i.e., certain cosmetic damage and the party in the parking lot), were issues that you did not allow us to remediate or did not emphasize the significance (i.e., cleaning) or were inconsistent with the advertised amenities (i.e., expected use of owner's personal belongings which are separately stored and are not listed as property amenities). As noted, we will work to address those areas of your review that we can control to ensure that future guests have a better experience, however, we do wish that you would have better communicated your concerns directly to us and allowed us an opportunity to remediate the issues at the beginning of your stay rather than leaving a negative review after the fact.
Thank you for choosing our property for your stay.
Mandy and Dave