Velvet Timber Haus | HotTub, Sauna, Firepit, Games

I’ve waited several weeks to do this review. I have mixed feelings about our stay. In one sense we loved it and it was great. In others, not so much. We are the type of family to always make the best of everything. We are very observant and have a lot of patience. This review is 100% honest and blunt. It’s lengthy and detailed if you’re interested. Overall great peaceful location. Quiet area. Neighbors were friendly when crossing paths while biking. The home is large and was very clean. The property and views are great! Comfortable beds. Plenty of pillows. Good amount of board games. Game room is good for kids, but not full size air hockey/ping pong. Mini sized. Karaoke worked good. Popcorn machine was nice. Washer and dryer worked well and detergent supplied. Plenty of spaces to hang out as a group or individually. Very well stocked kitchen, A+. Nite that the office bedroom w pullout sofa doesn’t have a fan or a/c. Nice outdoor furniture and fire table. Comfortable even for a big guy like me. Nice espresso machine. Hot tub was great , after it got cleaned. Sauna was ok. It’s new but already falling apart. Fire pit area was nice and plenty of firewood available. Would be nice if hot tub had a partial roof over it since it rained more than half our stay. Stayed 5 nights. Price was above average, especially with 90% of the homes in the neighborhood currently being unoccupied. I’d imagine the owners come for the winter to ski and not so much in the summer. Just my opinion as a very experienced Airbnb renter.

Unfortunately Had several issues. Biggest issue is communication. The owner has an AI bot set-up to respond AND TRY to resolve every message a renter sends them. This was very annoying for me since I didn’t get actual human responses most times. Owner did call once. I understand it’s a timesaver for them and helps them manage things. But it definitely needs work and improvement. Several problem examples follow: Upon arrival the hot tub was VERY filthy. It probably hadn’t been used in weeks. Owner sent a spa tech the next day. He was great. Drained it completely, cleaned it. Replaced filters and refilled it. Unfortunately we lost 2.5 days of use because of this , by the time it got cleaned and up to temp. Then it rained the rest of the time. So we didn’t get much use sadly…Which was a main factor of choosing this rental. The back door lock was broken and didn’t work. This left the home unsecured and left us uneasy to sleep at night and to leave the home unattended. Reported immediately, and subsequent times. But Owner didn’t address this issue while we were there. The AI said thanks for reporting it and that it would be addressed. But It never was. And I had to try to fix it myself. It was internally broken ,but I got it to lock on the 3rd night finally. The water in the home smelled VERY strongly of sulfur. Made a burning sensation in our eyes taking a shower. And it turned all of my wife’s sterling silver jewelry black when she took a bath! (Gold and platinum was ok). Reported it several times, owner apologized for the smell and said in the Catskills it’s common with well water. But didn’t offer any solutions. And ignored the report of the jewelry turning black, until I demanded an answer. She replied but still didn’t offer a solution. I had to pay $300 for ultrasonic jewelry cleaning when we got home! This was very unfortunate. 3 toilet seats loose in the home. Reported and tried to tighten best I could. Gas grill is a cheap brand. Igniter didn’t work.