Absolute Charm Vacation Rentals — Attraction in Fredericksburg

I used Absolute Charm for the first and LAST time last week. I will stick with Gastehaus Schmidt when in Fredericksburg. Lesson learned. I contacted Absolute Charm a couple of months before going to Fredericksburg to inquire about pet friendly lodging as my Mother and I would both be bringing our small dogs. I was told that they had a "newly pet friendly" house called Chocolate Diamond. I agreed to rent it for our time in Fredericksburg after seeing pics. Looked really cute. One word of warning about this house. The photos make it look like it has a fully fenced backyard. It does not. The front portion is open and they have tried to prop an old window screen up to block it. That did not work with my 8 lb Chihuahua as he saw it as a perfect escape route. When we arrived, check in was very easy as you just pick up your keys and packet from the front porch of AC's office. There was a map in the packet and the house was located very near Main Street. Great. We got to the house and unloaded the car in the pouring rain. Another word of warning...you must park behind the back fence/gate and no way of seeing your car while in the house. That was strange. We unpacked, settled in and ordered a pizza from West Side Pizza for dinner. They were awesome. They literally delivered in 20 minutes. I immediately noticed that there were what looked like black mold stains around some of the air vents in the ceiling. There were also places where the ceiling had obviously been patched. We found out the reason for those patches when we got ready to go to bed. The front bedroom, where my 79 year old Mother was going to sleep, had a leak in the ceiling. Her bed was soaked. I texted the contact number we had been given and got a reply of "Yikes! That's never happened before. I'm so sorry. I'll send my husband over." Her husband arrived, pulled the duvet off of the bed, rolled back the mattress pad and the sheets and said "Yep. That's a leak, alright." He put a container under the leak to catch the water, commented on how glad he was that it didn't soak the mattress and then said there was nothing more he could do that night. My Mother ended up sleeping on the sofa. I contacted AC the next morning to see if they had found another place for us to stay and they had not. She said that she was contacting owners right then. She called back and said that we had two choices. One was on Baron's Creek (no, thanks, as it was still pouring rain) and the other was Ella's Cottage. One catch....Ella's Cottage is not pet friendly, but the owner had agreed to make an exception. We had to wait until 1PM to pick up the keys. When I arrived to pick up the keys, the agent tried to charge me more money. When I said no, she said that I had not told her that we would have two dogs with us. I offered to pull up the saved email that stated that we would be bringing two dogs with us. She declined. Then she asked me if we wouldn't rather "just go home". No....I don't want to just go home. I came to Fredericksburg for my birthday and I intended on staying. She finally gave me the keys to Ella's Cottage and we were back on our way. I can't say anything bad about Ella's Cottage. It is a beautiful and very well maintained property in a great location. The owner obviously cares about everything being comfortable and beautiful for the guests. We didn't get to take advantage of the huge, beautiful hot tub on the private, enclosed patio (rain), but it looked great. We were just paranoid the entire time that if we left one dog hair on anything in the house that we would be charged hundreds in cleaning fees. One other interesting thing about AC....You are required to carry all trash from all bins to the outside bin before you leave. You are also required to clean the kitchen, including all dishes used before you leave or you will be charged an extra fee. I guess they don't want to pay for maid service. Still waiting on the $177 credit promised. It's not right to lie to someone's face. Stick with...

"Absolutely charming" = absolutely horrible.

When we booked our AirBnb (listed as Absolutely Charming Back Porch, King Bed, Hot Tub, In Town!), one of the KEY factors for us was having parking on premises - NOT street parking. The listing assured us "parking on premises," so we booked the place. When we got into Fredericksburg on Friday night, there was a car parked in the driveway, in the spot that was supposed to come with our property. I sent the owner a message (I had no contact phone #) and she replied back that the other guests were supposed to park in the street and the spot was ours, but to "go ahead and park on the street."

Since it was late and the other property was dark, we parked behind the other car, left a nice note with our phone number saying to call us any time and we could move our car, then went inside. We heard nothing that night, the next morning, the next DAY - nothing until 9pm when were at dinner and received a call from the property manager saying the other guests had been trying to move their car ALL day and were going to call the cops to have our car towed. We were really confused since this was the first we were hearing of anyone needing to move their car - not to mention we were promised that parking spot! I requested that the owner call me, and after a few aggressive phone calls and messages about "getting the police involved" or "I never told you to park behind them and block them in" we rushed through our dinner so we could get back and move our car from the parking spot. Because at this point, we were NOW told that the parking spot isn't in fact ours.... where, the night before, the parking spot WAS ours. (Not sure how that's possible...)

My companion and I are both very even-keeled and easygoing, but when I was being disrespected on the phone, he was the one to speak with the owner, and she was extremely aggressive and rude. At one point she told him that our option was to move or car or get off her property. (Mind you, we'd already paid for both nights.... under the circumstance we'd have onsite parking.)

We were optimistic - and excited - to stay at this property when we booked it, and even passed on other properties because they did NOT have onsite parking or only offered street parking. (Like most people, we are particular about our cars!) However, this incident put a HUGE damper on our trip, and I've never had worse customer service. I've seen glowing reviews, but I wouldn't risk staying at these properties, not to mention they are wildly overpriced for what you get, especially compared to other NICER...

BEWARE I stayed at Lost Creek @ Johnson Lane Homestead Cabin from Sat 11/21 - Tues 11/24, 2020. I fully expected the cabin to be clean since someone checked out prior to my checking in. And seems like most places are doing more extensive cleaning since the pandemic onset. And let’s not forget that Absolute Charm charges a $75 cleaning fee. Well...don’t set your expectations too high. Homestead cabin was dirty, dusty & disgusting. We brought our own cleaning supplies to do a light clean for additional peace of mind. Thank God we did! We found hair in the downstairs bathroom sink. There were also Bobbie pins w/ hair in them on the floor in that bathroom. And apparently no one ever mops because there was a significant layer of white dust in that bathroom as well. The toilet had a ring of black mold/filth underneath it’s rim. My sister found stains on her bed linen. I found hair in the upstairs shower that didn’t belong to any of us. This place wasn’t cleaned at all! I did call & speak to Susan Ellsworth upon checking & informed her about the lack of cleaning. Since is was near closing time she mentioned that there wasn’t much that could be done at that time. But suggested I send a email. I also inquired about wear the firewood was located for the outdoor fireplace. She told me that the owner doesn’t provide the firewood. But I could go buy some a HEB or Walmart. FYI...you can only use the outdoor hot tub during daytime hours. There’s no light on the outside of the house where the hot tub is located. Absolute Charm management should disclose this information since they included pictures of them. I never received a response to the email that I sent on Sun 11/22/20. I also spoke to Dixie Hodson, who told me that the email was indeed received & someone would respond on Monday. Essentially Dixie gave me the run around. On Tuesday 11/24/20, Dixie claimed that her manager Tami Smith was out for Thanksgiving vacay & wouldn’t be back until following Monday & she would contact me then. That didn’t occur. I called numerous times & finally spoke to Dixie. She explained that housekeeping is the responsibility of the individual owner. I mentioned that they should contact the owner about the lack of cleaning. Dixie told me “It is what it is. That place is 200 years old.” Well...Dixie Hodson that is no excuse, an unacceptable response & poor customer service. The entire team (Susan E. & Dixie H.) that I spoke to wasn’t helpful at all. The property manager Tami S. never...