4/10 Poor
Martin K.
9 March 2022
Liked: Check-in, location
Disliked: Cleanliness, communication, listing accuracy
Untrustworthy and ungracious
My experience started when I was in the process of making the reservation during Australia’s lockdown. I asked the owner what his policy was in case either the Australian or USA authorities would not allow me to travel from the US to Australia. The owner’s response was “if you are unable to travel due to government restrictions or border closures, we would provide a travel credit for 18 months”. Based on that guarantee I made the reservation. Two weeks before the planned travel I gave the owner notice that it didn’t look like I would be able to make the trip due to the borders still being closed but I was still applying for a travel exemption to see my 84-year-old mother who lives in Sydney. The guarantee previously provided was now retracted to “no credit” and then later amended to “50% credit” after I made a fuss. Ultimately, I was lucky enough to get an exemption within the week of travel, which was not easy to do, and I did ultimately stay at the property.
One would think that the after reneging on a written guarantee and the fact that we were staying at the property for 18 nights that the owner might be gracious enough to welcome us with a simple note, or perhaps even a bottle of wine. This is an expensive property! A simple note to say “Sorry we got off to a bad start. Glad you made it. Let me know if there is anything I can do to make your stay more enjoyable”, would have been the right thing to do. Instead, nothing.
Now on to the property itself. The bedrooms are small. There was some water damage at the bedroom windows and the walls and floor were scuffed and could use a redo. Bathroom was redone and nice. The living room and ocean view was great! Beach towels were not provided which was strange for a beach property. The unit does have a garage for a small car which was really helpful.
And finally, there is construction going on next to the property at both the neighbor residence and the Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club, so there was loud construction noise during our stay.
I was disappointed.
Martin K.
Stayed 18 nights in Jan 2022
