The main issue was that the owner of this unit was a “no-show” the few times we had a request or need.
To begin with, the parking is not always convenient. The two “designated parking spaces” are not exclusively for this unit. The street parking is challenging in the busy times of the day and certainly not convenient for unloading/loading.
We were also told “We do our best to get the cleanings done quickly enough that you can check in early!” I informed the owner we were arriving around 1 pm and he said he would let us know as soon as it was available. We arrived at 1 pm, parked at the back of the unit and waited. It was cold and we hoped to get unloaded before the rain started. I looked in the windows - it appeared to be clean, and I did not see anyone in the unit. We finally unloaded at 4 pm. Even though the unit apparently was clean before we got there at 1 pm we never received approval to access it early.
On our day of departure, we left in the morning. Later that day, we realized we left two pillows in the back bedroom. My sister lives a mile away from the unit and she immediately went to get the pillows. She used the access code I was given to open the door but quickly realized someone was already in the unit so she left. I emailed the owner to make other arrangements (surprisingly, the access code had not been changed for the new users - a terrible lack of security).
The owner responded to my email with “I have to reach out to the cleaning team about this. We do have a $25 fee plus shipping for left items”. I explained my sister lives near-by and can get the pillows so just let us know when & where. His reply was “Our policy is that items that are left behind have to be shipped’ and he refused to let my sister get them. That would have been the easiest & cheapest solution for both of us. I asked him to reconsider but he refused. He said this was “his policy” and not a VRBO policy. A week later I get an email that “We found the pillows.” I don’t understand why it took a week to find them. Again, in no hurry to help.
The owners sent emails stating: “if there was anything you may need from us or anything we can do to help you enjoy your stay even more!” and later “I hope that your stay justifies you returning a 5-star review back”. Really?!?! After his lack of support. My sister was willing to meet wherever it was convenient. Still makes no sense. So much for helping us to “enjoy our stay even more”!