This rental experience began very well. Good communication and the property was what I expected....then it took a terrible turn. They talk about a "5 Star Cleanliness" but there was dust and hair in the corners of each room as well as 5 balloons under one of the beds from a previous renter that had not been cleaned up, along with other party materials/trash under the same bed.
During our stay, the property was great for 4 couples. But from 12p-11p one of the days, we were without internet. To be self-sufficient, we did our best to rectify the problem. In doing so, we had to open a closet...and I mention this because at 11pm I got a call from the property manager yelling at me for opening and closing the closet so often and accusing me of suspicious activity. When in reality, all I was trying to do was have the wifi amenity work that was promised in my nightly rental cost.
Then at check out I received a text message saying, "Thank you guys for taking over all great care of the place!! We will be giving you guys a 5 star review!" But the next line explained they would be charging us for a pet fee because their cleaning team "suspected 2 pets b/c they found brown & black animal fur inside the house." There were no animals inside the house. And as I mentioned above, the "5 Star cleaning" they "strive to provide" left behind much hair and dust from a previous (or potentially multiple previous) stay(s) as well as other items of garbage (under the bed).
The property management group initially sent me an invoice from a 3rd party site that was not a part of VRBO. This does not seem right to me, and something I know VRBO tries to avoid. Why wouldn't they want VRBO to know about this charge?
No chance I will ever use this rental company again as they are trying to charge me extra for something "suspected" that is not true. And I “suspect” they were doing more monitoring of the property than VRBO allows in its guidelines.
Lastly, the property is not in a great area. I had safety concerns for our party. Whatever you do, do not leave the property and head west. And if you are bringing your family/families, do not let the little ones leave the fortified yard. I can see why now they put up a 6ft high fence around the entire yard.