Highlands Vacation Rentals

"We rented a home through airBnB called the Ivy House and to be fair, we did enjoy the house itself. However, the fees stacked up to being almost double what the rate would be for a three night stay. There was a very steep pet fee that had not been mentioned until after booking, cleaning fees, booking fees, and they even tried to charge an additional $45 to check in 2 hours early even know the house was ready to be checked into. I can deal with all of this as it seems happen fairly often these days. However, the Wi-Fi was down and the house was out of cell service range, so that means no tv, no internet, and no way to communicate with anyone outside the house without driving a few miles to get into cell range. We were there for my wife’s friends birthday and had our four month old baby with us, so her going out with her friends during the day and the evening when we had one car and no means of communication was a major inconvenience for us. The first evening I drove into town at 5 to download some books and tv shows on my iPad and received a couple messages from the staff asking if Wi-Fi was back. It was not and we found out it wouldn’t be looked at until Tuesday. They apologized but offered no other accommodation at that time. At 7:15 or so in the evening when I was putting my son to bed we got a knock on the door and it was the manager, Lori. She stated that “she’d been trying to reach me” which I thought was a very odd thing to say considering there was no possible way to reach me without coming to the house and if it was that big of a pain for her to reach us imagine the difficulties we had being there all weekend. Dogs ran outside and the baby was crying and I basically asked her to get to the point of why she was here. She then stated she had another accommodation to move us too. I had no choice but to decline because my wife was already out and I was in the process of putting my son to bed. We never did get Wi-Fi back and dealt with it. We got some texts Sunday night when I drove to town saying we had to be gone promptly by ten and anything later would not be tolerated, and to please start a load of laundry and the dishwasher. We did as we were asked, left the house spotless as we always do, and I simply asked for them to give us something in return for the MAJOR inconvenience of being in a house with no cell service when the Wi-Fi was down. They stated that they were not in control of the Wi-Fi so it wasn’t their fault and they had offered me an alternative location (at 7 the first night when they had know since 1 about the Wi-Fi). I honestly just want a service fee or a pet fee or 100$ of the nearly 1500$ stay refunded to show that they cared. I did not mind the Ivy House rental itself. This is a one star review for the customer service. I’ve been in the hotel business for many years and cannot imagine charging our guests for an early arrival if the room is ready or not compensating them in someway for an inconvenience that was out of there control and changes the value of rental. Not sure if they have used fake reviews or friends reviews to elevate their score as these types of company’s often do, but I believe every word of the negative reviews regarding customer service. They just didn’t seem to care enough about their guests, if they did more would have been done. I will not use highlands vacation rentals again."

"I was very disappointed in my rental home, Estes cottage – Mirror Lake. In the title you would think the lake was very nearby, and it was not at all. I had to drive over half a mile to see the lake. The house was musty, and although it was clean enough in the inside, the outside had not been washed down from spiderwebs, debris, the yard was overgrown with weeds. It was not inviting or cleaned up at all. I called the rental company and they sent someone over to power wash the two doors. I wanted to switch homes, and was even willing to pay for a new cottage. This was a decorator’s cottage, so, while the inside was pretty, it had no view and was not near town. Also, it was perched atop a hill that had two private homes at the end, and a very steep drive up to this cottage, so it was very hard to walk around. I thought this cottage was very remote and I would never recommend renting it because of its location and lack of view. It did have one porch which looked out onto treetops, but the porch was dirty, moldy, dusty, and none of the cushions had been washed. Basically, this house was not ready to be on the rental program. The kitchen was a mess with most things thrown in cabinets in no Order."

"What could have ended in a disaster of a vacation ended up being the vacation of our lives! Let me explain. We had booked a Highlands Vacation Rental through airbnb 4 months in advance to our trip. The week of our trip there was a maintenance issue at the house and when I called to see if it had been fixed, Chelsea at the office was so apologetic and was honest and told us no and not only made the situation right, but rebooked us in another beautiful property hassle free. The amenities were top notch, the home was so clean and beautiful, and the beds were extremely comfortable. We had the best time in Highlands and would definitely come back and use Highlands Vacation Rentals again and recommend to all of our friends. Thank you Chelsea!"

"Highlands Vacation Rentals has been such a valuable partner for us! They are a full service management company, and have done a great job in all areas. They are professional, friendly, available, responsive, knowledgable, and are always there when we need them. We couldn't be happier with HVR, and would highly recommend them to any homeowner hoping to rent a property in the Highlands area! Thank you for doing such a great job for us!"

"Inside and out the owner's have made Camp Carlee the PERFECT Highlands getaway cabin! It's nestled in a lovely location that's just a short drive into town. And being pet friendly is the cherry on top. I love staying here. The manager, Lori Bee, is the best. She is warm and friendly, and if a problem should arise it is promptly taken care of. I know I'm in good hands when staying at CC."