Hi John, thanks for your feedback. Nobody lives on the basement floor, guests hate that and I would never do that to them! It has our stuff for when we come up. Your contract addresses this and says, "you are renting a 6 BR, 4 BA...." etc etc., and, as you observed, it is quite spacious. I don't want anyone reading this to think they are getting a "partial" house - the two floors are plenty big and tricked out without the lower floor basement. You saw our Sububan in the driveway because we took it out of the garage so that a prior guest whose daughter is in a wheelchair could easily get into the house. Sorry I thought my neighbor put it back after they left, and I could see that being unsettling! The grilling tools are in the cabinet on the right as you walk outside. Regarding the fireplace, it is *not* a wood burning stove - it is quite large and is not one of those feeble inserts. There was special fireplace glass cleaner right next to it (or worst case guests put it under the sink in the kitchen), and you do sometimes have to clean the glass if you had a very hot fire the night before. I had my chimney guy in there after you told me the fireplace was billowing smoke - you had left the flue closed. I had it fully inspected as well and nothing else was wrong with it. The hot tub is the top of the line Jacuzzi model 300 tub with two pumps, waterfall, lights etc. These tubs have not changed and its jets are powerful. When it needs to be replaced we will be doing that - we are very diligent about putting a lot of $$ into the house twice a year to keep everything new and fresh (that goes for furniture, dishes, everything). That said, it is hard to keep jacuzzi pillows in the tub because they seem to get broken off all the time.

Omid, thanks for your compliments and for taking such great care of our home. Darn, we have lots of porch and deck furniture but took it in for the winter. I would have taken it out again for you!

Maura, thanks for the review and for taking such great care of our home.

Amanda, thanks for your compliments. Definitely come see us this winter!

Stacey, thanks for letting us know about the drain, we had it taken care of right away. The garage isn’t part of the rental, so hopefully that didn’t have any impact. Thank you for staying with us!

Jessica, Glad you had such a great stay. Yes, a guest actually rammed their car into our garage! It isn’t part of the rental, so I am glad it didn’t impact your stay. We contacted all guests and let them know in case the aesthetics would bother them, and offered each an opportunity to cancel with full refund if they wished.

April, it was great having your group. A book on the coffee table is a good idea. We do have the “virtual coffee book” filled out with all our favorite places, but it isn’t as convenient. I will work on that! This is the first I am hearing of the hot tub - we had it checked, and there wasn’t anything wrong with it, someone had pushed the lock button, which you would have to push again to change the temperature. You kind of want to be careful going above 101 (we do 103° Max, and find out 101 is good in the winter or cool summer night). But it absolutely should go above 101° if desired by the guest. We actually have phenomenal water pressure for being on a well system, and we get approx 5 gallons a minute, which is unheard of (as long as an unusually high amount of water is being used - well can run dry in that event, but most guests are pretty cautious ). We needed a new filter which explains why it might have seemed sluggish.

Hi Noelle, so glad the house worked great for your group. Yes, the mountain base is not walkable - but if you take a 3 min car ride to the base and get there 15 min before the lifts open you can generally park right across the street and not have to take the shuttle (except on holidays, then get there 30 min before and have a nice cup of coffee in the lounge while you put your boots on - or worst case the shuttle from parking further away is pretty quick).

Thanks Patrick. We loved having your group

Kathleen, so glad you had a lovely holiday. Come back next year!

Thanks Igor, so glad you loved our place.

Pamela, thanks for taking the time to write all those accolades. We were just up for a week and know what you mean, it is so awesome that it's hard to leave! I think the grandeur of the great room, fireplace, log interior and house in general always put me in awe even though I've owned the house for 17 years now. Be sure to come visit again next year!

Jennifer, thanks for the 4-star review. Sorry some of it was still sub-par, we work very hard to keep everything way above average...like the work you referenced which was being done..it was an emergency repair on the lower level, which is our private quarters that aren't part of the 3500 SF/6BR/4 BA rental. Every guest was messaged and offered a cancellation - nobody took it because it had no impact (except visual from the outside) and they understood the urgency (water damage). Perhaps you missed it. Each "weird" sign has a clear purpose (e.g., don't flush diapers or the septic can overflow). The garbage one was just printed so it is up to date. Twice a year we buy new blankets, pillows, kitchen stuff etc. - anything that is borderline gets replaced. I wouldn't want anyone reading this review to think our house is not constantly maintained, and if we discover anything that needs repair, it gets fixed as fast as we can get help there (which is a challenge these days). Thanks again for your input.

Thanks Amy for your positive review. We work hard to keep our guests happy - glad this was reflected in your positive experience.

Doug, I'm so glad you appreciated all the things we invest in every year to keep things maintained and plentiful. But the stove - I am so sorry! We didn't know. We did end up hearing about it from the next guests, and replaced the ignitor, that may have been what was causing the issue during your visit. Thanks again and please come back!

Charles, thanks so much for taking the time to review our place. We strive for an awesome guest experience, glad we succeeded in giving you a great one.

Hi Nathan, there should definitely be extra toilet paper and paper towels, I reinforced this with my cleaning company. Thank you for making me aware so I can correct it for others. We respond as soon as we receive messages, I am not sure what went wrong during your stay. For others reading this, if we do not respond to a message you sent in the app, feel free to text us, you will see from other reviews that we usually respond fast. I am so glad you had a great stay and we would love to have you back.

Hi Dan, thank you for the awesome review. I need to look into the screens, they were in place and no holes when I checked them in June, so maybe you are just saying they are dusty (we do a deep cleaning 2x/year and next time we would do it is Fall, after busy summer season)? Anyway I appreciate the feedback, if I am not made aware then I can't address it for the next guest. I will look closely in the Spring to see what replacements might be needed (we usually take the house offline after Spring to do stuff like that).

Hi Samantha, I'm glad you loved the house and will address the valid issues you raised! The code is problematic sometimes (not too often, but when it happens I can understand that being off putting after your long drive to get there) - we pay Countryside to monitor it 24x7 and provide their phone number in welcome instructions (along with 2 cell phones for us) so when that does happen guests can get a rapid response. I am extremely regretful that you dealt with dirty diapers. Bears were a HUGE problem this year - yes, they broke in and spread trash all over the yard. The standard latch that came with the shed has worked for 17 years but it wasn't enough this year. I consulted a Ranger who said they would keep a closer eye on our area, and that it was going on all over the valley. We beefed up the lock on the door, which kept him away the remainder of the summer. I ended up commissioning a MAJOR yard clean up as soon as I found out, but you beat us to it for some of the mess - I can't thank you enough for doing that, and certainly did not expect you to! Regarding the pests, we have a quarterly pest control contract - that said, it is Vermont, so it comes with the territory. Regarding the water damage you observed, it ended up being a $50k Fall project to repair parts of the roof, siding and foundation (what you saw was the tip of the iceberg!). Hopefully this demonstrates to others that we spare no expense to keep the house in good working order. Thank you again for taking the time to write, we value your feedback.

Thank you Jessica, I am glad your group loved the house - that is very consistent with what we hear! We hope to have you again in the future.

Hi Samantha, first year we put all Roku/SmartTvs in and it sounds like that was your major complaint! Before that we had standard cable but wanted guests to be able to stream what they want. We can't provide a blue tooth speaker, it gets stolen every time, or I would, gladly!! We have been in this area 20+ years and never had bear problems until this year, and a call with the Warden revealed that it is a big issue county-wide this year. We had had that shed for 15 yrs and never broken into until this year. Local help is tough to find but we have someone scheduled to rebuild it end of Aug. Sorry you had so many complaints, that is not the norm for this house. We spend a lot of $$ on maintenance, cleaning, amenities (like new TVs, Rokus, dishes, blankets, pillows this summer) to keep things nice for our guests.

Love to have you back and thanks for taking such great care of our home.

Hello Tim, thanks for understanding about staffing locally, you are right, it is a BIG issue and money is no object for us when it comes to having people locally to respond. We have a great cleaning lady and rarely get complaints about cleaning - but, noted - we shared your comments with her. We now offer her a tip when we get positive reviews that mention cleanliness, so hopefully this serves as a regular reminder for her and her crew about the importance of the house being meticulously staged and cleaned for every guest.

Hello Michael, glad you had a great time. Very sorry about the deck furniture, we usually take it out around Memorial Day. Had I known I would have had someone get it out for you.