Beachretreatsvic 

In June I was looking to spend a few days in Mornington Peninsula with my granddaughter and wanted to find a nice accommodation.
I found this website advertising for a property called 'Ocean Escape' for a 'stay two nights and get the third night free'. The pictures of this place looks very nice.
I went ahead and booked for two nights, Monday and Tuesday nights in June, then I received an email from them saying that the extra free night ONLY applied to weekend stays, which is double the cost of a weekday night. Of course I did not get a free night.
Then they asked for a deposit of A$500 as a bond saying they would refund after inspection carried out after we leave the property.
I had had bad experience before with a rental car company in Canada making me pay for a huge damage which I did not do because we did not have inspection at handover.
I therefore called up the lady in charge of this company and requested that inspection be carried out at the time of my departure to make sure that I will not be blamed. To my surprise she bluntly said: this is our practice and I will not change our practice just because of you.!!!!
Also her attitude in a lot of cases was rude and unsupportive.
On arrival at the property, there was a book with regulations and rules saying:
1. we have to take the bin outside of the property, or we will be charged $50 per bin.
2. bins overflowing with excess garbage will incur a charge of $35 per bag.
3. there should not be stains on carpet, furniture, linen, flooring walls, uncleaned dishes, ovens or fridges.
4. furniture, beds must be returned to the original place if you have moved it, ensure the property is left in the same condition or we will have to pay for extra cleaning charges start at $40 per hour.
5. if we pull out cords from TV, stereos, DVDs or tamper with them, the cost of repair will be deducted from the bond.
I am a world traveller and have NEVER come across harsh rules like this in a holiday home!!!
further, although this house is nicely furnished, it gives me a feeling of: LOOK, BUT DONT TOUCH:
1. because of the above rules, I dared not touch anything. after using the dining chairs, I had to remind myself putting it back in its original place.
2. there are NO towels supplied, you have to bring your own towels.
3. the fire place is empty, there are no fire woods, no thongs no nothing for you to use, so it is there for you to see ONLY.
4. in all the bathrooms, we were only provided with a few pieces of soup the size slightly larger than a 50 cents coin, and they do not provide foam.
5. the hand soap container in the guest bathroom is empty.
6. there is a glass bottle for bath salts on the bath edge but the bottle is empty, so it is there for you to see only
7. the small TV in the sitting area next to the dining table is being put at a corner on the corner table, there is no way you can watch this TV without moving it in front of the sofa, however if you move it, you may incur a fine.
8. the house is of a good size, however through out the entire house, there is ONLY one bin in the kitchen. Imagine how inconvenient it is for us to throw our tissues in the bathrooms? I ended up have to tie a plastic bag on the cabinet handle to make do as a bin.
9. I was so afraid that they will blame me for things I did not do, so before my departure, I took photos of every corner just in case......, so imagine the pressure I got???
10. the property is called Ocean Escape, however it is located on a little service road, hardly visible from the main road, behind another property and there is NO view of the ocean. My granddaughter joking said that this house is for us to "escape from the ocean."

All in all, it has not been a pleasant experience staying at this property. It seems to me that this management company is only making life easy for themselves or trying to save money instead of making guests feel welcome and comfortable. I have to say that if this is the case, they have definitely succeeded, and passed with High Honours.

If anyone wants military or housekeeping training, then this is a perfect place.