Isaac LaRoche Main House

This is a charming historic building from 1838, tastefully updated into several Airbnb units. The unit itself was lovely, and the bathroom had a mirror that looked suspiciously mounted, as if it might barely stay on the wall, so I was careful not to touch it. The back porch furniture looked nice but was so dirty that we couldn’t sit on it, and there were no supplies to clean it. It didn’t look like the furniture was cleaned between guests. My frustration was with the owner or management company. After choosing the property and paying through Airbnb, I was told by the management company that we had to sign their contract to stay. We’re experienced 5 Star Airbnb hosts with over 100 reviews and have rented places all over the world, including multi-million dollar beach houses and high-end condos in exclusive cities. We’ve never had to sign a separate contract this long. It was full of obscure rules, hard to read on a phone, required multiple signatures and separate dates for each one, and seemed designed only to protect the owner and management company. I wish they’d put as much effort into the customer experience. The supplies were minimal. Why advertise a coffee maker and provide no coffee, or in-unit laundry with no detergent? There was only one small bar of soap, so we could use it at the sink to wash our hands or in the shower, but not both. When I raised these questions with management, they said no one else had issues, but some past reviews I saw seemed to say otherwise. I’ve never stayed anywhere that required a resident or tenant to enter a security code and turn a lock to get out. That seems like a major fire or emergency hazard, especially in an old wooden building without sprinklers. I was also dumbfounded to see a rule in large bold print in the unit’s three-ring binder saying tenants would be evicted if police were called for any reason. People argued in the street outside several times between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. and woke me up. We couldn’t contact management after hours unless it was an emergency, or we’d be fined. We were in town for a wedding and had friends in other local Airbnb properties. I was able to buy that. Their places had well-lit keypads and easy exits. Another rule required us to take our own trash out. When I went to do it, a homeless person was going through the trash cans, so I had to come back later. The property is lovely, but I think the owner and management company missed what the Airbnb experience should be. Until they address the safety concerns, I’d suggest staying elsewhere, since there are so many local Airbnb options.