Kalli's Luxury Retreat - unfortunately the name doesn't live up to the experience. The cabin's…read moreworkmanship on the surface was nice. Newer LG appliances (filtered water & ice maker in the fridge was a plus), cool bathroom, cozy oversized chair, great fireplace on rear covered deck and amazing rockers w/cup holders on front and rear porches.
Now upon opening the door, the first thing I said was, "WOW! That's a weird smell." Unfortunately, we were smelling sewer smells the entire time we were there. I contacted the email from the site the first night and they responded the next day. While I was in the bathroom tub (shades open) a gentleman put his ladder on the side of the bathroom window and started climbing up, while someone chatted with my husband at the door. Needless to say I was mortified and embarrassed that we weren't initially made aware that someone was coming until after they had arrived. The person climbing the ladder definitely got an eye full.....Anyway, they said the vent pipes weren't removed once the cabins construction was done and the traps may have gotten dry. We heard them sawing something & then they left soon after. We ran water, as instructed after they cut the tops off the pipes and were advised Joey would be back with a top to cover another pipe on the roof. The smell initially got a little better, but within a couple hours it was back full force. We again contacted Rob again, who sent Joey back out to address the issue. This time, he put bleach down the drains, gave a can of fabreeze, a pumpkin candle and 2 renuzit toilet scents. Now, we had been burning candles in all the rooms from the moment we arrived and kept the front & rear doors open to try and air out the smell. NONE of that helped. It even began to stink outside, so no handing out on the front or rear porch unless we needed cell signal. So although the thought was nice, 1 single wick candle, 1 can of fabreeze and some toilet scents were NOT going to cut it. The smell was not as strong after the bleach, but never did go away. In fact, when we ran the dishwasher before leaving, the smell returned full force throughout the cabin, especially in the bathroom and rear porch area. THE SMELL ALONE RUINED OUR ATTEMPTED ROMANTIC GETAWAY. While I appreciate them trying to solve this issue, there wasn't any follow-up to confirm resolution. I had to keep updating Rob. At least Rob did say he was "sorry it's doing what it's doing" regarding the odor.
Honestly, I cannot begin to explain to you how utterly disgusting it is to constantly smell sewage inside and in the immediate surrounding exterior of one's "luxury retreat." Not once in the decade plus of coming to HH have we EVER had this happen......we've stayed with MANY companies, but this is a first.
Lastly a few things could have been done better. When we arrived, it would have been nice if the front and rear covered decks were swept. There was a lot of dead bugs, leaves & bottle caps from alcohol (ppl before us) laying around on the decks. I swept that up myself, not a deal breaker. There were excessive dead bugs on the living room floor - I also swept up, not a deal breaker we're in the woods. The issue is that it made me question how clean the cabin actually was. Therefore, I took it upon myself to clean the cabin with the products I'd brought to be sure.
The hot tub, while up to temp at 102 degrees had brownish grey water and looked filthy. VERY UNINVITING, especially when the pool chemicals were neatly portioned out and could have been dumped into the tub when it was prepped for the next guest. I get that the water may be discolored from minerals, but this was just a dirty hot tub. I make that assumption as when we took off the lid, there wasn't even the faintest hint of chemicals from the water (which one can usually smell when they've been added) upon removal of the lid.
Overall, we wanted to love this cabin, but didn't. The constant, horrendous sewer smell was a deal breaker and for the cost, I NEVER EVER expected to have an unresolved odor issue continue