It’s taken a lot for me to write this review. Our trip to Melbourne was overshadowed by the neurotic messages from the owner. The initial booking was with his partner Angela and her communication style was warm and welcoming.
Once we had paid the full amount, he messaged me for more money to bring our toy poodle. We booked the property because it was pet friendly and we discussed with Angela prior to booking. We ended up transferring the additional cleaning charge to clean ‘any microscopic pet hair etc’ only to find the rug in the lounge room covered in actual white coloured dog hair! Our dog is a non shed black dog so clearly was from previous guests. We let it go, as we had much to organise with family in St Kilda, only to be accused our dog was barking when in fact he was booked in with a pet sitter as we attended to wedding duties.
During this debacle, our phone number was given to at least one other party as we received messages from a random about our dog, who was not even on the premises. We then received an apologetic email from the owner, followed by a call from his ‘friend’ checking that I would give a 5 star review despite the misunderstanding.
It is a lovely property but I could not handle the stress of these interactions in a future stay. I actually have avoided Stayz for future holiday bookings.