The positive is, our kids had a blast, the house is wonderful, and is in a great location consistent with previous reviews. The host, however, was dishonest and stole from us as we paid everything in advance, including the pet fee. The host was very clear via VRBO message that she would refund the fee if we were not planning to bring the dog. We messaged her prior to the trip that the dog was staying home. When we asked for the pet fee back after the trip, she stated “I am not refunding anything; I could have ruined your wedding.” She even hung up on the VRBO representative who had all the documentation when they attempted to contact her about the refund.
She also has tried to place a claim on our deposit stating that we were “over occupying the home”, which we were not as we only had the limit of 10 people staying there. Our family had rented beach houses all within walking distance for a family gathering for a small ceremony on the beach. One of the other homes even being from the same host, which the host was well aware of and acknowledged via text. Our ceremony was on the beach like many others who have reviewed this home, and included 15 other family members from two neighboring beach homes (a total of 25 – which I accidentally ordered extra chairs) and the host stated that the occupancy extended to people on the beach; therefore we had violated our agreement and should not receive our deposit or pet fee back.
Overall we were highly respectful of the home. We did bring all of our own plastic/paper dishware and plastic ware, aluminum pans and such. We deep cleaned the home daily, fixed her dryer which had sand from previous renters because it was unusable, and kindly left additional paper towels, toilet papers and items to be used for future tenants. We found the host to be both unprofessional and invasive as she decided to attend the wedding on the dune by the home (we have pictures) and would holler passive aggressive comments at my family if they decided to come over to say hi and/or bye, in particular one was simply coming by to say good-bye as they were leaving for the airport. There are outdoor cameras on the property that would show there was never a pet on the property during our stay there.