Generally speaking, I found Savannah to be an absolutely lovely city populated with friendly people. The amount of ma’am-ing I received tickled me and I thoroughly enjoyed my time wandering around the historic district. I would come back here in an instant, perhaps a bit earlier in the year in time to catch the magnolias in bloom and the air slightly less humid.
Two things about my time here, though, stand out in exceptional ways. The first were my accommodations. In an attempt to minimize expense and maximize location, I stayed in a historic carriage house 5 minutes from the beautiful Forsyth Park. The property was just as pictured – well designed with exposed brick, wide wooden floor boards and indulgently spacious for just one guest.
All good, right? Well…
I really strive to book short term rental properties from individuals, rather than corporations and I failed to do that here in Savannah. The market seems to have been locked up by an entity that features 120+ properties. Yes, 120! Isn’t that kind of ridiculous?
While I loved my home for three days, I couldn’t help but feel tremendous guilt that the property where I was enjoying my short term stay denied someone local a place to live. I just kept thinking “this should be a person’s home.” It took a bit of the bloom off of the rose, to be honest.
Coupled with my feelings about occupying someone’s potential full time home, was the inconsistent communication between myself and the hosts. When I asked if I could leave my luggage prior to check in, I was informed that there was a local business where I could leave my things for a small fee. However, when I revisited the original listing, one of the amenities was luggage drop off with advance notice.
I took a screenshot of the listing with the relevant text and responded to the message, recommending a store nearby, I had received. A different person, one who claimed to be one of the two names associated with the property (and 119+ others!), assured me that I could leave my luggage at the address until the 4:00 pm check in. Great!
I messaged when I landed and provided an estimate as to when I’d arrive and be leaving my piece of luggage. I received a response telling me that it wasn’t possible to leave luggage because of security and the liability with the cleaning crew. Instead, I should take my bag to a nearby shop where it could be secured for a small fee. Wtf?
I responded kind of snottily, as I would after waking up at 3:00 a.m. to catch a series of two flights to land me, in a city I’ve never been to before, by 10:30 a.m.
And I couldn’t get into my apartment for another 5 hours.
And it was hot.
I sent a screenshot of the assurance message I had received from one of the owners and said that the lack of consistency was disappointing and would be noted. Suddenly, owner man came back into the conversation, taking the reins and repeating what he had already said I could do. They would contact me when the unit was ready, but I could most certainly leave my bag upon arrival.
I Ubered to the address, left my bag and went on my way, unencumbered, for a few hours. Not receiving a phone call or message, I went “home” at 4:00, retrieved my bag from the secure hallway and let myself in.
As I said, the carriage house is gorgeous. I appreciate being able to stay there. However, there was nothing personal about it, at least nothing beyond what you might find in a well appointed 4 star hotel. The Smeg refrigerator contained nothing beyond a Brita pitcher without a charcoal filter. There was nothing about the place that made me feel genuinely welcomed.
Last night when I received the emailed message reminding me of the check out policies, I immediately laughed when I saw that they wanted me to take out the trash and contact them when I departed.
I did neither.
The trash, what little there was, was collected and placed in the kitchen garbage can. Next to it, in a paper bag, I left some rinsed recyclables. I didn’t feel compelled to tell them I vacated the carriage house at 9:30 to go and sit in Forsyth Park where I’m writing this.
They’ll figure it out.
This experience has affirmed for me that my initial hesitations about booking with this group were on the money. My stay has supported the position that, if folks groups that declare themselves small businesses* monopolize an area’s tourist accommodation industry, they should open hotels.
Up next, part 2: The Grey – delight or disappointment?
DelSo 