Hilltop Heaven

Although the house itself was nice overall, there were several issues that significantly impacted our stay: 1. The glass room had a strong unpleasant odor, making it unusable during our visit. 2. The barbecue grill was extremely dirty and rusted. We attempted to clean it, but a black powdery residue continued to come off, so we were unable to use it. 3. The jet tub in the master bedroom was not functioning. 4. The hot water supply was insufficient for our group of 5. After two guests showered, the remaining guests only had lukewarm or cold water available. Overall, we felt that the property’s premium price was not reflected in the condition and availability of several key amenities, particularly the barbecue grill, jet tub, and glass room.

Can't beat the view and the home comfortably fit our two families with children. Read some negative reviews about the home being dirty but it seems like they hired new cleaners and everything was fine for us. Had some issues with the wifi but the management team was helpful and resolved it quickly. We would stay here again no problem.

Views for miles in every direction and incredibly peaceful location. The layout of this home is phenomenal and very conducive to rest, relaxation and fun with your family or friends. It has not been remodeled recently so don't expect perfection but as rentals go, I found this place to be pretty darn good. The main living area is open and expansive with tons of access to the outdoor decks and living space. A few of the screens were not in the door tracks and just leaning against the wall, presumably because they weren't operating well. It's probably time for a general refresh but I would rent it again as it is. The propane grill was clean and plenty of fuel on hand. My primary complaint though, is in regards to their checkout policies. First, it's 10 AM. That's pretty darn early and they give you no grace period. The cleaning crew was sitting in the driveway at 9:53. Also, the day before, they had sent an email offering late checkout, and for a pretty reasonable fee. I opened the email, saw no way to actually request it, so sent them a message requesting it. On the morning of our departure at 4:15 am, they replied saying they were not able to offer us late checkout, so when I woke up after 8, everyone had to go into rush mode to get out. Pretty much ruined our last moments there and left us aggravated after a very nice stay. Why offer late checkout and then apparently retract the offer? Oh, and the house was not booked for the rest of the week, so why the urgency? The customer service person I spoke too on the phone didn't help at all and said they had no way to reach out to the "local team.' What??

This is a spacious and bright house with a well-designed floorplan and with beautiful views of leafy hillsides. A few of the rooms and amenities are indeed “luxe” as advertised. For example, the master bathroom has a jacuzzi tub with sunset view (although the water heater is so small that the tub can barely be filled to a quarter with hot water, making the tub effectively unusable). Unfortunately, many other features suggest less than optimal upkeep of this rental. Parts of the fridge are broken, a microwave is installed so low above the stove that the latter is challenging to use. Many of the windows in the entire rental are either broken or stuck, some with torn screens. The main deck seems to have been abandoned (although shown on the listing) and is covered with bird feces. It is, however, fascinating to watch the many turkey vultures who seem to have taken over the deck as part of their territory. There is a winter garden with some usable furniture, but on an average sunny day it gets extremely hot. There is also a furnished outdoor seating area by the front door, which we had to clean thoroughly before we could use it. While the living room and hallways have excellent lighting, the bedrooms are mostly dim and there are no bedside fixtures. The surroundings are quite idyllic, although there is noise from highway 41. Our stay was specifically affected by the lack of running water at our arrival. Apparently, the water authority had turned off the water since the owner was more than 3 months behind on his water bill payments. We had to negotiate with a water representative ourselves to get water turned back on. In a quarter century of renting through VRBO and Airbnb, this was a novel experience for us and, after a long day of driving, not particularly pleasurable.

Did a little get together with friends from SoCal. This was almost half way between us. The house was wonderful and the location was amazing. Felt very quiet but was a quick ride away from Atascadero and Paso Robles for when we wanted to get out a bit.

The house was beautiful and we could tell that someone once loved it. It's to bad that it was in such a dirty state when we arrived.