AirBNB vs VRBO: Hotels still win
I wrote earlier on our experience with AirBNB … We are staying now at another Bellingham WA area property, this time listed with VRBO.
Overall:
(1) VRBO check in was worse than AirBNB …
(2) the property is mostly better than the AirBNB once we got in here.
(3) both of them make me more interested in hotels …
This was my fault; I didn’t think to look on the VRBO email for the contact information on getting into the property until I was standing in front of the door trying to figure out the app … It had taken us 6 hours to get from our home in Renton WA to the doorstep after taking the ferry from the mainland (we just made the 7pm ferry, after which the next one was 8pm) …
There was nothing in the email with contact info for the property manager, or anything else about the code for the key lock box to get into the house.
I looked for signs of life next door and didn’t see anything; finally it occurred to me to go up the little store we had passed and fortunately I thought of this before 8pm when the little store closed.
Well, it’s a small island and “everybody knows everybody” and the lady behind the counter looked in her little book and called a person who turned out to the be the landlady … she read the lock box code to the clerk who relayed it to me … I quickly called my wife (who had been trying to get into a window that looked partially open, but no such luck) … who tried the code and yay! It worked.
I came back and unloaded the car and we fixed a very late dinner on the bbq grill …
The next day when I got a good look at the place … it’s overall nicer than the AirBNB property and in most ways the VRBO app works better than the AirBNB app. I searched for “pet friendly Bellingham WA area on water” and came up with this place quickly.
My wife likes bathtubs, and I just looked at the ad again and it says “jetted tub” but the sheet I got said “conserve water — we’re on wells and have hot dry summers” … I can understand that … we were living in rental house with a spring-fed water system during the 110 degree summer we had around here a couple of years ago, and it almost ran out of water … I can imagine they would have taken out the jetted tub that same summer … OK for me but check with my wife on that one.
Overall, the property is better than the AirBNB one in several respects:
- It is on the water … the view is beautiful
- The internet is fast enough and reliable … the owner didn’t ask for tech support. (Oops! The internet failed Sunday afternoon and I didn’t feel like getting into the tech support thing again .. I’m just using my personal phone hotspot again .. one more vote for the hotel.)
- There are a selection of games and a First aid kit, and even some tongs for the BBQ grill (outside worked well last night) that I had missed.
- They do have coffee and tea.
But it’s the same in one (very annoying): my sinuses went off here too, just as at home … I was diagnosed with a dust mite allergy earlier this year … and I’m looking forward to moving next year to a house with no carpeting … My wife thinks it may be mold, but whatever it is it’s something I find annoying.
I’m here trying to make my wife happy, but if you don’t mind hotels, there are several pet friendly hotels in Bellingham for $146 on up per night …
If you do decide you’d like to stay here, please contact the host before you get here … good luck with the traffic and the ferry!
