The checking in process was all done online or text. Never spoke to a human, but it was relatively simple. The property is managed by Vacasa, and I did try to reach out to them a couple of times prior to our stay, but never got a response. We received a text with the code to unlike the deadbolt on the front door. There was not a key, so this was the only way to get in. If you mistakingly lock the door handle instead of the deadbolt, I guess you’d have to try to call someone at Vacasa to come unlock it for you, but since they didn’t respond to my questions prior to our vacation, I don’t think the outcome would be very good. As for checking out, we had to go to the Vacasa site to find out what we needed to do, and they basically wanted us to wash dishes, strip the beds, put sheets in the washer and start the washer.
The house itself was fine. Everything was clean, the layout is good, there is plenty of room and it was well stocked with supplies. The WiFi was good, but tv is only livestream, and while the tv in the den streamed fairly well, the ones in the bedroom constantly lost the WiFi and were basically useless. It was ACC basketball conference tournament weekend and we couldn’t watch in the bedrooms because of the roku tv’s losing connection. Other than that, the house was great.
The location of the house is not so great. While it is really convenient to Bryson City and the grocery store, it’s surrounded by double wide mobile homes with one being right behind the house. Most of these are primary homes for people. They weren’t ghetto looking, but it just gave a weird feeling. We didn’t feel like we had much privacy while there, and view of mobile home tops from the porch wasn’t what we were expecting. We have stayed at nice places nearby that had much more privacy and better views in the same price range
I mentioned that the listing is managed by Vacasa. I got a text and an email offering an additional night stay at 50% off. I emailed them twice if we could get the night before our original check in date rather than adding a night on to the end, and never received a response. On the day before our checkout, I got a text offering late checkout for about $25. It seems that Vacasa was just trying to squeeze a little more money out of us, as long as it was all automated and didn’t require any personal effort to work with us.
In conclusion, the house was fine, the location was convenient, but the surroundings weren’t great