Sanctuary on private ravine, large luxurious space

The property was exactly as advertised. Enjoyed morning coffee on the back porch. Bed was comfortable and the room was quiet.

There is a lot of space. The bedroom, kitchen and living space are all large.

We used the bus and it is about a seven minute walk to the bus stop.

Tom and Susan were great hosts and responded to any questions within a few minutes.

We recommend this property.

I liked the:
- size: very spacious;
- view of wooded ravine from living room;
- homely feel of living room;
- comfortable bed;
- lack of traffic noise;
- beautiful road in which house is situated;
- nearby trails;
- responsiveness of hosts to my requests and their concern to put things right quickly;
- gift card from hosts for the trouble I'd been caused;
- new electric kettle from hosts to replace stovetop kettle.

I didn't like the following:
- Lack of basic provisions on arrival. Having just travelled from airport about 9 pm, I couldn't even make myself a hot drink.
- On arrival, the feeling of cold and damp. However, hosts quickly responded by turning on heating.
- Heating is controlled by hosts, although they were responsive to my requests for temperature changes.
- Heating system is very noisy.
- Accommodation appears rather scruffy in places, for example marks on walls and skirting board coming away from wall in bathroom.
- Accommodation was not cleaned very thoroughly, for example limescale on shower head, dirty oven.
- Nowhere in bathroom to hang clothes.
- No side plates in kitchen.
- No mirror in bedroom.
- Mould around washer door seal. I couldn't clean this off because it's become "permanent".
- There was no laundry basket. However, when I mentioned this, hosts immediately provided one.
- There appears to be no soundproofing around apartment. So, you can hear talking, footsteps, coughing and so on from hosts, though it's very quiet for most of the day.

Our experience at this property was extremely disappointing. The listing falsely advertised it as a ground floor property, but upon arrival, we discovered it was actually a basement unit requiring several flights of stairs to access. The property itself was poorly maintained and lacked basic cleanliness. There was mould throughout the property and the mattress of the sofa bed was dirty.

Upon arrival, the unit was infested with insects, such as cockroaches, centipedes, and bed bugs, among others I didn't even recognise. The kitchen had cockroaches crawling on the countertops and inside the cabinets. The bathroom also had centipedes, making it very uncomfortable to use. Within five nights, I was covered in bites from the bed bugs. There were gaps behind the cabinets and sinks which I suspect is how the insects were entering the unit.

When I contacted the host about these issues, their response was dismissive and unhelpful. They insisted that the property was a ground floor unit despite clear evidence to the contrary and ignored evidence I provided of the insect infestation. The host’s refusal to acknowledge the problems and their attempts to downplay the severity of the situation were incredibly frustrating.

We had booked for a month but had to leave after just five nights due to the unbearable conditions. This experience completely ruined our vacation. I strongly advise others to avoid this property, both because of the poor conditions and the host’s dismissive behaviour.