Reviews of Charming Retreat on Cypress Street, Your Home Away from Home

Location was good, close to lots of transit options. Host was available to help us figure out the outside door.

Room only locks from inside. We had no way to secure luggage when leaving for the day, so took any valuable items with us.

Good location, quiet and friendly. The kitchen was very well equipped.

We had to ask for more toilet paper! There wasn’t much cutlery.

Not same as booking.com properly information.

Booked at ground floor with bathroom attached. But host arrange no ventilation closed basement with shared bath. I reported to booking.com and leave immediately after arrival. I can't contact to host and not solve the problem in time. I didn't get refund also. Very disappointed this time with booking.com also.

Clean, comfortable

No key for room Staff hardly spoke any English

The property was in a good location and easy check in

The bathroom was mouldy and the rooms were not able to be locked when out. The hosts weren’t very flexible and couldn’t offer luggage storage for even a few hours.

The location was great, and main house was nice.

We were quite disappointed as got put in a different room than I had booked. It was in the basement, lacked windows, smelled of mildew, didn’t have a private bathroom (like it promised) and the bed was rock hard.

Amazing customer service!

Location was a plus, safe and quiet neighbourhood, as well as accessibility to the city centre, coffee shops etc. The room had a decent size and an adjoining bathroom with a bathtub. And the beddings were clean and perfume-free.

The place/room was not very clean, lots of dust/spider webs, and we weren’t very happy with the sound level (we could hear everything in between the rooms) or the slippers we had to wear

The location is good, safe and quiet. 4 of us had the Master Bedroom of the house. I guess it's the biggest room in the big house. The house is 7,xxx sq.ft. with 3 levels. It is very interesting and it will be fun to play hide and seek in there! We were on the highest level. Our bathroom is very spacious. There was a balcony next to our room. The bed was comfortable and the room seemed clean enough for most people. The owner's instruction is clear enough. Great value for this stay!

They should rearrange the furnitures in some of the interior area.. It will make the inside (common area) look more spacious. It was only a short stay (a night) for us so we didn't use the kitchen. The house is clean enough for my husband and kids, but not up to my standard. A deep cleaning throughout the house will make it look more refresh!

It was a beautiful property with a stunning garden on both sides of the house, A rainfall shower with plenty of soaps, and a beautiful hardwood floor kitchen with all the utensils needed

The only “issue” was the bed was so big that it barely fit in the room!

Good internet, location, online staff quick help.they provide extra mattress. Nice kitchen

There was no breakfast. The staff is helpful but doesn't understand English and use Google translate. The online staff is helpful but they seem quite paranoid by sending instructions after instructions. The online photos didnt natch as I thought there were two queen beds or 1 king abd 1 queen but instead there were 2 twin beds.

The food offered in breakfast, the living space, the laundry facility.

Our room was advertised as having a lock and it doesn't. They all use an Allan key to jimmy the rooms open, meaning anyone has access if you lock it or if you leave it unlocked which is unfortunate. I tried to communicate with the woman on site but she spoke Chinese into an app which translated, though the person messaging me within Booking.com was writing in English. There was no sugar to be found in the house and no one around checking on the satisfaction of those staying. Also some sleeping areas didn't have walls but were open to the elements of the house.

Location was good. Private bathroom.

There wasn’t an exterior lock to my room, I had to keep anything valuable with me. Would have had to cook my own breakfast, ended up going out instead. Not the hosts fault, but someone was sleeping on the couch outside my window and their snoring kept me awake from 2am to 5am.

Price and communication from host.

Out of toilet paper and towels in the bathroom. So many stairs, not appropriate for people with mobility issues. No lock on door for when we went out, but was from the inside. It was VERY basic accommodation. Room not cozy, just a bare room.

Only the room was colder than the host/staff.

Nothing comes to my mind.

Shortly before booking, an additional charge was made to the credit card for a deposit of CAD 300. It then took about a week for the money to be refunded. A truly unnecessary and tedious process; had we known this beforehand, it would have been a red flag. We had to provide an arrival time in advance, only to discover that it was self-check-in anyway and no staff member was on site. We initially had problems with the door, but we couldn't reach anyone to help us. Even when we found the showers dirty, we couldn't report this to any of the staff. We simply refrained from showering during our stay because we were simply disgusted at being dirtier after showering than before. And one evening, we ran out of toilet paper, since you have to share the bathroom with all the other rooms. But there was no one on site to refill it. Luckily, we had tissues with us to help us. Hopefully the other guests were as lucky as we were and had something to help themselves with. And now the worst part: The room door doesn't lock! The house is a normal family home that has been converted into six bedrooms for guests, and accordingly, the doors have normal doorknobs like in a normal house. There's no way to safely lock your belongings inside when you leave the room! The door simply doesn't have a lock from the outside, so the entire house and all other guests have access to the room at any time. Since it's also a normal older house, the floor is made of wood and the doors are as thin as cardboard. You can hear every single noise from the room next door, from the hallway, and from the ceiling when people move around on the floor, and you can hear people using the toilet (by the way, there's only one toilet/shower per floor). In summary, this accommodation is worse than a hostel. You have all the disadvantages of a hostel, including shared bathrooms and lots of noise from other guests.

Hostess was very gracious. My only concern was the trash in the bathroom was very full and a bit uncomfortable

Beautiful house in a nice neighborhood. No designated parking space, but street parking is easily possible. Big kitchen with all necessary kitchenware and coffee. Spacious terrace with seating opportunities. Room B2 had all essentials – bed for two, desk with chair, curtains, and built-in wardrobe. Easy self check-in with smart lock. Host responds fast via Booking chat.

No possibility to lock the room from the outside (inside locking possible). Room is in the basement, temperature can get chilly, but heating in the room is available. Lovely but shared bathroom with two other rooms. Side note for in-person inquiries: main host does not speak English (very friendly though).

I've stayed at this location before and had no problems with it - it's a bit of an odd set up, given that the owners (?) appear to live in the common areas, but for the price in Vancouver, and being close to trendy Kerrisdale and transit, it was a totally adequate place to stay for a day or two.

This time, when I arrived there was no key for the private room I had rented. When I asked the older woman who appeared to be cleaning staff (?), where the keys were, she directed me to an Allen key that sat on a table in the common living area. Every door in the house had been replaced with the equivalent of a bathroom locking door - you push the pin from the room side, but to unlock the door, you push the Allen key through the small hole in the door handle. I actually took a bobby pin with me in case another guest took the Allen key and I could use that to 'unlock' my door. Every room in the house is now like this, so anybody staying here can open any other room in this house. I didn't feel safe leaving any valuables in the room when I went out in the afternoon, and I put all my luggage behind the door when I went to sleep at night because, as a single female traveler, I wanted advance notice if someone tried to open my room door. What makes the situation even worse is that nobody will see this review, as the owners have removed this specific listing and have re-listed the home with a new description and no reviews. I had planned to stay at this location for future Vancouver visits but have since cancelled those reservations due to the lack of security.