I gave careful consideration before posting this review as I appreciate the impact that negative comments may potentially have on a host’s business. I feel that I have been very honest and fair with the information shared below. I also believe that some of our experience during this stay might be due to the fact that the host is fairly new. First, the home is beautiful, they have taken great care in creating a comfortable, creative space that is close to everything the Benton Harbor area has to offer. We visit many times a year, always staying at various local short-term rentals. Initial communication was easy and professional. During the booking process, the host responded to questions and requests and I tried to be very open and transparent throughout the process as well.
The first morning of our stay we received an email indicating that they were receiving alerts that their home safety system had been unplugged- it hadn’t; I was in the process of sending a message to inform them of a disruption in internet service. They were very responsive in having this issue addressed and the internet service was restored quickly, along with their safety system. Very shortly after this I received another email of greater concern. The host stated that we had significantly more people within the home than agreed upon and that the situation needed to be rectified immediately. This information was not accurate and created a great deal of stress as we began to worry if we would be having to address concerns throughout our stay. I clarified and provided accurate information to the host along with expressing how stressful this situation was becoming. Although she later stated that she was simply trying to have open communication- her emails, from our perspective, were accusatory. It resulted in us spending the remainder of our trip walking on eggshells and feeling uncomfortable in the home. Although I was not surprised to see that there were cameras on the exterior of the home, this information was not disclosed anywhere in the listing. I understand why hosts may want to protect their home and property through the use of cameras, however, in this situation, the host made assumptions which resulted in a negative overall experience in spite of how pleased we were initially with the property.