Mountainside Getaways

"So I booked my cabin back in September. Late November hits and this company was harassing me for my payment early. So after a week or so of coordinating with them, I had submitted the second payment early December, and even asked them questions about firewood. 2 days before the trip, I get a message saying they have been trying to contact me for weeks (which was NOT the case considering they spoke to me 3 weeks prior on email and through VRBO). I called them and they said the cabins renovations weren’t done so we couldn’t stay there, and they had no other cabins with the accommodations my friends and I needed for our New Year’s Eve trip. When I told the woman on the phone that is a lie and no one has tried contacting me, she accused me of being aggressive. I only had a little bit of a tone after she kept cutting me off when I was trying to speak and being rude. By the next call she was nicer and said she refunded both payments I sent to them. I’ve only received one. I’m still waiting on the second. This is weird considering they both were from the same form of payment. Overall, my experience with this company has been horrible and I suggest you stay away from renting from them if you want your vacation to be canceled less than 48 hours before the trip."

"We stayed in the Starling House for Thanksgiving week and enjoyed our stay. Positives: The bathroom floors are heated, and there are two bathrooms. The kitchen was fully equipped and very easy to move around and cook. The bedrooms are on one side of the house and the living room is on the other, which we appreciated when the kids wanted to stay up and watch TV and play games. The woodstove is centrally positioned to enjoy with coffee while looking out the spacious windows. There are decks on each side of the house to sit outside when the weather permits. I am orginally from Berkeley Springs and have moved out to Fargo, North Dakota, so getting to sit out in the woods and enjoy the fall mornings with my family and coffee will be a core memory Plenty of walking trails and close enough to Coolfont to walk down to and back after a big meal. I would book this house again."

"After much searching and reviewing many houses for a quiet weekend getaway to honor a 10 year anniversary, we landed at the "Starling House". I'll never book a house that is sub-par to my current house, and we were quite excited for the updated Starling, and the hot tub. We arrived Friday without a hitch, were able to access the house without issue, and were able to unload and prepare for a nice weekend away. The next step was determining the location/access of hot tub, and confirming water temperature was appropriate and ready for entry. This is where the problem began. My wife indicated after touching the water that "it stung her". Assuming a chemical issue, I dropped my hand in the water to very quickly realize that there was not a chemical issue, but there was 220 VOLTS PASSING THROUGH THE WATER. ILL SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME, OVER 200 VOLTS PASSING THROUGH THE WATER. I called the first after hours number with no response, the second number fortunately received a response. Joey was helpful, and advised he would call the hot tub guy, which unfortunately for a 2 night stay was likely an indicator that we spent $934, and would basically have a bed to sleep in. We were relocated to the "Wildflower" which had fortunately a functioning hot tub, but is in the middle of repair and update. There was a lot of unfinished drywall repair(improper at that), sewer/drain flies stuck to the basement bathroom ceiling, a dehumidifier that filled within a matter of hours, bathrooms you'd find in the 80s, and beyond worn out living room furniture. The basement bedroom bed was comfortable, but aside from the hot tub, that's where the positive ends. I attempted to reach out to Holly on Sunday, again on Monday, and contacted Joey Tuesday to find out if there was someone else that could resolve my concerns, with no response from any attempt. The specs in the photos are the sewer/drain flies, the water damage in downstairs bedroom, crack along the entire ceiling, and the halfway attempt to repair the ceiling in basement."

"We booked a house with Mountainside Getaways because it has an indoor hot tub. (The house listing is titled: Turtle Pond-Private Hot Tub, Pool Table, New Beds!) We arrived on Thursday, 8/10, to find the door to the hot tub room locked and no key available in the open lockbox. We could see the hot tub through a window and noticed it was empty and sitting on its side. I emailed and was told that during the turnover of the property on the previous day, 8/9, the Mountainside Getaways team found a serious leak and drained the tub. They claim they ordered a part and were crossing their fingers it would arrive that day, 8/10. Presumably the part did not arrive because nobody showed up to fix the hot tub. I emailed again on 8/12 but did not receive a response. Our vacation ended on 8/13 with no response or any other follow up from them. I called on 8/14, 8/16, and 8/17. The person I apparently need to speak with is either on vacation or out sick every day. The representative I spoke with today said a $200 refund has been initiated through airbnb and she cannot do anything further. I'm disappointed with the lack of communication and unwillingness to process a more appropriate refund."

"We really enjoyed our stay! The privacy, access to the pool, and updated bed/ bathroom upstairs were some highlights. Down one star because some repairs are needed and there is a bug problem indoors."