Looking for some support in communicating to the hosts. Location: CA desert - a windy time of year (extreme high winds) - In a beautiful artsy desert home, clean and kept well and we enjoyed the design very much.
Upon arrival, we realized that there was a bunch of dog poop in the turf around the swimming pool and lounge chairs. I also tried to put cushions on the exterior furniture around the fire pit, and inside the bin, the cushions were full of rodent excrement and unidentified liquid.
We let them know immediately about dog poop and cushions, said all ok wouldn’t be time to fix during our stay oh well.
The home had artsy, heavy, iron work doors. All latched from the inside due to the wind conditions at the location, and they don’t shut properly because they are artsy doors. We were very intentional about the doors being latched so they wouldn’t shake in the wind.
En-suite bathroom in main bedroom smelled like septic/sewer.
THE KICKER: we went outside to let the dog pee before bed last night, and the other door slammed shut behind us locking us out in the dead of night in the desert, in heavy wind conditions with a small dog. It was terrifying. Also the exterior light fixture at other door wasn’t working. We made several attempts of reaching the bolt, but it wasn’t possible to stuff an arm thru the gap. Ultimately, after 15 minutes of trying every way of not damaging anything, we were able to get thru netting on a doggie door, got the bolt up and got in. We were terrified. We were SO SHAKEN up. 2 women alone in the dark desert in a wind storm. We didn’t even have shoes on! We had no keys, no phones.
It took us several hours to come down from that experience. It’s hard to explain how scary it was.
The rest of the issues were all things that we would totally let slide as we notified them in a friendly manner. However, after being locked out of the house in the dark and a wind storm and being so terrified, I think we would like to send a more strongly worded message about everything that went wrong that also asks for some kind of compensation because of what we went through. It also became clear to us this morning that the other entrance door to the house has some of the same issues and previous guests had very clearly ripped through the netting there to try solve the problem. Same thing happened to them.
We did message them last night about the door. They responded immediately that it had never happened before. How is that possible when all doors lock from inside?!
How should I handle this? Word this? Looking for help.
I’m a highly rated guest, who often informs property owners of little things like lights being out, etc. I’m always friendly as I also own rental property. I haven’t had a situation like this ever occur before.
Thanks in advance!!!