Let me start by saying that the location of the home is great. The space surrounding the unit is wonderful and we spent many hours on the deck and by the fire pit. Unfortunately, most of the other descriptions or amenities were not accurately described. The photos of this place must have been taken with a 16 mm super wide-angle lens. This creates a false appearance of openness and space. In actuality, this unit is very small. Luckily we are close with the friends we stayed with. The unit's decor and furniture layout are awkward. Additionally, there were pictures included in this unit's photo album that are actually from other units. It turns out that this unit is part of a house that was sub-divided into three units. So while you do get the "entire" place you are sharing the locale with possibly two other renters. The listing clearly states a private patio or balcony as well as a private backyard, but with two other renters in the other units, this was not true. Regarding the backyard and landscaping, this needs a great deal of revitalizing and TLC. You can see that at some point it was well lit, but nearly 100% of the backyard lighting is not functioning, falling, or jerry-rigged using indoor style LED bulbs instead of outdoor-rated bulbs. Speaking of jerry-rigged I can clearly see how this place was renovated recently either by a sub-par contractor or almost entirely DIY.
Points to be concerned about: Of the pictures shown, there are two bathrooms depicted. The one you get isn't the better of the two.
The showerhead is placed in a rainfall position directly overhead but isn't an actual rain shower head. This makes taking showers a challenge, especially for a big guy like me. I had to constantly move around so enough water could hit all parts of me. When the water pressure diminished this became even more of a challenge. Diminished water pressure you ask? Well, the water pressure grinds to a trickle if anyone in your unit or any of the other two units is using water. This wasn't just an isolated event. This happened many times over the 5 days we stayed there. Don't even think about sharing a share with your partner. Someone will be out in the cold.
The bedroom with the king-size bed has windowed french doors. There is no way to get privacy. We were staying with 2 friends of ours and had to go to Target to buy a sheet we could hang over the door. While we are close to our friends I highly doubt anyone wants an aquarium-style window into their friend's bedroom.
The kitchen is as basic as possible. There were no pots to boil anything only two pans. The cutlery was also at a minimum at only one set for four people. We had to wash multiple times between meals just to have enough cutlery for each of us.
There is no garbage disposal so there were many occasions where we had to remove food from the drain and carry it over to the trash can. Yummy!
The electric plug-in range couldn't be more basic, and with the minimal cooking utensils preparing meals was a challenge.
The host requires guests to clean the kitchen and unit before leaving but provides 0 cleaning supplies. There really should be a bottle of cleaner under the sink. Along the same vein of cleaning, a few extra trash bags would have been nice.
The refrigerator is another item on the minimal list. It is one of the units that can be either a fridge or a freezer, but not both. So we had no way to store ice for our drinks or any other frozen items. Come on we are on vacation who doesn't need ice for their drinks?
The BBQ grill has really seen better days. It is completely rusted out and is in dire need of being replaced! We made it work as we had no other option.
In conclusion, it is a decent place which is why I gave it 3 stars, but I won't be returning to this unit or any of the other two units. We were able to speak with some of the other guests and heard similar complaints about water pressure and awkward layouts. I'm sorry this is so long, but I wanted to leave an...
   Read moreWe looked for a place close to Austin where we could escape for a few days (after visiting family there) and we like different types of accomodations, not just hotels. We found this place via our search from abroad. Glad we did!||||Traveling with a small, not-yet-can swim child, we wanted a safe place on the lake. We didn't realize we wouldn't be overlooking the lake from the porch (we had the Beach House, which was a bit misleading), but since the mosquitoes really liked us, we didn't make much use of the porch anyhow (except for a few brief snoozes in the hammock). The yard was great for him to run around and kick the ball in. The water was a bit too murky for shallow-water swimming (but he didn't mind) and I guess I expected more of a beach-like area (to lay and sunbathe, etc.). I didn't see any lawn chairs I could use or transport down to the shore.||||We used the peddle boat to cross over to Emerald Point once for dinner and once to rent a ski boat at Just4Fun (on Tuesdays, you can rent for 2 hours, get 2 free). I was keen to kayak, but the life vests were a bit outdated and sadly there were no kids life vests, so I didn't take my kid out even for a short spin in the cove.||||We didn't see an outside shower to rinse off with, so we used the water hose to rinse off and not track dirt and grime into the house. I felt bad using the pristine white towels to wipe off Lake Travis muck with. Maybe some different towels for that?||||The king-sized bed was super comfy (kid had the queen), but the wall-unit a/c was so loud, we didn't use it at night (it was 73° so that was comfortable temperature anyhow), and the vent for the "lounge" was right over the right side of the bed which emitted a low din, making it sound like a hum of traffic rushing by, which I know couldn't be, so we turned that off too (we don't have a/c in homes in Germany, so maybe Americans don't mind the noise). ||||Wi-fi connection was superb, so I just used my iPad to watch Netflix since the wee one was snoozing in the room that had the t.v..||||And we LOVED THE BREAKFAST TACOS and juice and granola bar (which arrived around 8 a.m.)! They kept us full till early afternoon. It was easy to order, but being from abroad we incurred costs sending texts (if it were hooked up to WhatsApp or the like, we could have saved $$ by using the wifi). Very convenient way to order breakfast!||||We didn't use the common kitchen or make coffee in the room, but I would have had a cup of tea in the room. I guess I could have microwaved the water since there was no e-kettle.||||Check-in was easy, but coming from abroad we didn't see the email that had arrived a few days before our arrival. But it all worked...
Ā Ā Ā Read moreWe booked two nights through The Coveās website for Labor Day Weekend. We brought our 17 and 21 year old boys with us for an end of summer trip. They both have busy schedules and we were looking forward to spending time with them. We hired a pet sitter, carefully packed everything weād need for a vacation at the lake, including our scuba gear with plans to scuba at Windy Point Scuba Park. We drove up from San Antonio (thank God we didnāt live farther away as some visiting might). The welcome email had directions with a code to open a box that contained the key. When we arrived we walked up to our cabin and punched in the code. No key. We looked in the window and the bed appeared to have been sat on. We called the owner and it was immediately confirmed that they had double booked it. She said sheād be kicking them out though because they only paid half of what we did because they reserved through Booking.com. About that time the young couple were walking hand in hand up from the lake to their/our cabin. We began searching online for another option and told the owner no thanks, there is no way we were going to kick the couple out. Awkward!! They told us weād get our money back in 48 hours. There was no attempt to assist us in finding another option for our stay. Lake Travis was out as everything was booked for Labor Day. There was no offer to comp our hotel stay elsewhere. Nothing except verification that the reservation was in our name and they arenāt sure how the couple got the code:-/ So no scuba weekend at the lake for us. We were too wore out and disappointed to drive home last night. We stayed at on old Omni off the highway in Austin, which fortunately had availability. Weāre out the money for our pet sitter, scuba tank and gear rental, a nights stay at the Omni, jet ski rental for Saturday morning, and most importantly our weekend by the lake. We made our reservation a month ago and had been planning for some time. What an incredible disappointment. Donāt waste your time and money...
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