Our stay was extremely disappointing
Our stay was extremely disappointing, and I feel other guests should know what we experienced before booking.
First, the property did not look or feel as advertised. The listing emphasized that the house was situated on 11 acres, which gave us the impression that it would offer privacy and seclusion and, importantly, gave us peace of mind that our dogs would have plenty of space to safely run around and enjoy the property. In reality, the house sits directly along a well-traveled road and backs up closely to another home. The actual setting was very different from what we expected based on the listing and photos.
The listing also states that the beach is about a two-minute walk from the house. That was not our experience. It took us longer than two minutes to get there even by car, so the advertised proximity to the beach did not seem accurate.
Our biggest issue, however, was the biting flies. The beach itself was beautiful, but the flies were so severe that it was essentially unusable. We are not talking about a few annoying bugs. There were easily 10 or more biting flies landing on and biting us at a time, even after applying bug spray. Within approximately two hours, my mom and her small dog were both bleeding from being bitten so badly. The flies were also a problem around the house.
When we finally gave up and tried to leave, simply opening the car doors long enough to get inside resulted in flies getting all through the car. We had planned to stay overnight, but the conditions were so unbearable that we left after only about two hours.
We immediately contacted John, the host, explained the situation, and told him that we could not stay. He agreed to refund the cost of the house but deducted $75 total for the two of us as a “day pass” for the beach. I found this incredibly disappointing considering we were only able to use the property and beach for approximately two hours before the severity of the biting flies forced us to leave.
To be clear, I completely understand that the host cannot control nature, and I would never fault someone simply because biting flies were present. My issue is the complete lack of warning about how severe they could be. Nothing in the listing, nor in our phone or text conversations with the host, prepared us for conditions remotely like this. Had we been told that biting flies could be present at this level, we absolutely would not have booked the property.
If an environmental issue is severe enough that guests may be unable to comfortably use the beach or even remain at the property, I believe that possibility should be disclosed so people can make an informed decision before booking.
We drove there expecting the relaxing, private beach getaway that was advertised. Instead, we lasted approximately two hours, left with my mom and her dog bleeding from bites, and were still charged $75 for our brief time there.
The beach itself has the potential to be wonderful, which makes the experience even more disappointing. I just wish we had been given a more accurate picture of the property, its distance from the beach, and some transparency about the biting flies beforehand. Future guests deserve that information so they can make an informed decision before spending their money and making the trip.