I rented a 3-bedroom cabin to celebrate a birthday weekend out of town with my family. The cabin is not far from the Shenandoah river. We planned to spend the time reading, hiking, visiting a couple wineries, grilling outdoors, etc.
The property is pet friendly with a $20 a day extra fee. I paid the fee, so we could bring our 7-pound dog
I enthusiastically was looking forward to the weekend until days before my arrival I got a strange email from the owner of the property, reminding me that the property (in which I planned to only have 4 adults and the aforementioned dog) was for a maximum of 6 guests and that she "wanted everyone to have a good time while respecting the properties and neighbors." In the note, the owner mentions a previous group that caused damage to properties. I found the email to be unfriendly and unwelcoming. It suggested that the owner was looking for fault with her renters.
I wrote her back, explaining that my group planned a quiet weekend away and that I could say with certainty that we wouldn't be a problem. She thanked me for my note, but the entire exchange left me feeling uneasy about the entire rental. I probably would have cancelled it, but I would have lost my rental amount, because the cancellation deadline had passed.
The property is a pretty standard cabin. It has spartan furnishings and appliances in the kitchen. Also, I think that all of the beds might be full-size, despite claims that two of the beds are queen-size. (Our queen-size sheets seemed large on the mattress.) Otherwise, it's pretty much as advertised.
Unfortunately, there were some notable shortcomings. The hook latch on the outside screen porch door was broken, so we didn't feel comfortable keeping the door from the house to the porch open, in case our dog would be able to get out. That was a shame, because we would have liked having the porch open to the rest of the house during the day.
Furthermore, during dinner the first night, we turned on the gas-log fireplace only to have very noticeable gas odor sweep through the house. It worried us so much that we delayed our dinner, turned off the fire and opened up doors and windows to air out the property. We didn't get to use the fire place the rest of the stay.
Finally, the next morning, we found that the house didn't have enough hot water for more than two showers. As the last person in our group to shower, I took a completely cold shower. I cannot imagine how 6 people could possible stay in this property comfortably.
Still, while disappointing, these shortcomings weren't on their own deal breakers for me...I understood that we were "roughing it."
What I don't find acceptable was the way that the owner treated us. Because of the strange email that we got before our arrival, on the morning of our departure we took extra pains to clean the property top to bottom, carefully following the directions of the owner. After cleaning, we took photos throughout the house, to demonstrate that the house was left exactly as we found it. I just couldn't get the feeling out of my head that she was a owner who would find fault.
She didn't prove me wrong. A couple of days after leaving, she sent a note saying that we left a "huge nasty stain" on one of the beds. She further suggested that we had tried to hide the alleged stain with the comforter. She finished saying, "It would have been appreciated if you would have tried to clean [it]" or "left a note."
Upon receiving this email, I immediately called and talked to her, telling her that we didn't try to hide anything, that we didn't leave a note, because the house was left exactly as we found it. Of course, we have photos to prove that. The owner was rude, called me irresponsible, said that she didn't need "people like me" renting her property.
When I mentioned the above issues with the house, she said that I was just trying to deflect from the alleged damaged bed. Regarding the gas smell, she said that was a "normal thing" that happens when the gas is low and that she hadn't checked to see if there was an adequate amount of gas for our stay. She said that if there were "real problems" with the house, I should have called her so she could send out the gas company and a plumber (a happy way to spend a birthday).
This whole situation left a sad cloud over an otherwise nice weekend.
In end, if you're looking for a Shenandoah cabin, you can probably find lots of similar properties that have owners who don't treat their renters in this way. If I had known what to expect from this owner, I would have steered clear of this rental property. read more