All in all, our party of 10 greatly enjoyed our time at this house. I want to highlight the positives to start:
- the location both in terms of proximity to St. Helena as well as the stunning outdoor areas of this house cannot be overstated … just fantastic. We stayed here during New Year’s, but staying here during summer would be amazing in terms of getting to use the pool, etc.
- the owner, Luba, was very available for communication, would get back to me instantly, and was very helpful for things that were not clear or not functioning correctly.
Certain things came up as issues that, at this price point (give or take well over $1,500/night), I would not expect. I am simply listing them very specifically so that prospective renters understand why I would give this property 4 stars as opposed to 5:
- upon arrival, the gate did not work, and one of our party had to climb through it and open it from inside. For the rest of the trip, sometimes it worked, and sometimes it was just open all day.
- some issues with some of the bathrooms (very low water pressure in the basement shower, standing water accumulating in one of the upstairs shower upon every use, the basement mirror would not tilt up and thus was not usable).
- not enough toilet paper to last 5 days, and just enough towels for 10 people (we had to redistribute towels to make sure everyone had one for the 5 nights we were there).
- we were not able to get the oven to work (would not warm up). The owner sent someone out to inspect it and let me know that it was working. We tried it again and still could not get it to work properly.
- the dishwasher was not working and had standing water in it when we arrived. We hand washed dishes/glassware the whole time we were there.
- our party of 10 agreed that the house was a bit musty and not as clean, in general, as one would expect.
I expect that Luba is fixing these issues and that, if I stayed there and these were addressed, it would be a 5-star experience.