The Good: Very clean, large, unique home built in 1700’s with updated kitchen and baths. If you like old homes with tons of character, this is for you.
- 4 BR’s, 5 beds and 2.5 baths
- large den with sectional couch for 8 adults and a large flat screen
- separate LR seats 5 with working wood burning fireplace
- the house has everything you need, including coffee for coffee maker, and awesome bath towels
- Small gym
- 10 miles to Mohegan Sun
The Bad:
- Host messaged me a couple hours before arrival that the stovetop works but the oven does not work, and there’s a toaster oven. If we needed an oven, we could use the oven in the cottage behind the house (inconvenient).
- The house’s one thermostat on 1st floor read 51 degrees when we arrived 4 pm (and it felt even colder on 2nd floor where BRs and 2 full baths are). Sink water did not get hot so we couldn’t take showers as planned. Our wives were not happy. We turned thermostat up to 67 and waited about a hour but thermostat only went up to 53 degrees.
- We could not open flue in indoor LR fireplace.
- The outside gas fireplace propane tank was empty.
- No lights in main floor half bath worked.
- The ping pong table is very small
We contacted the host, who called the property manager, who arrived in 30 mins, and told us the home will warm up but it “takes a while for a house this old”. He left to fill up propane tank, returned an hour later, house was at 55 degrees. He checked radiators in all rooms and said the radiators were starting to get warm on 1st floor and will eventually get warm on 2nd floor and to give it time. He also showed us how to open flu. At 7 pm, we went out to eat and warm up, returned at midnight, and the house warmed up to 66 degrees and the water was hot.
- Property Manager said fuse / circuit for main floor half bath must have blown, but he did not check fuse box in basement to try to fix.
A rental house in March should obviously be warm for guests upon arrival; it’s unreasonable to wait 6+ hours for the house and water to get acceptably warm. The outside temp was about 40-45 degrees, so if it was a colder night, it likely would’ve taken longer for the house to warm up. Future guests need to have the Property Manager or Host turn the thermostat on / up the night before arrival. We would rent the home again but we’d insist that the heat be turned on the night before.
