Santa Rosa Avenue Apartment by Stay Alfred

My family and I chose Stay Alfred --The Vistana because of the convenience to downtown San Antonio and the reasonable pricing. We arrived an hour early (at 2 p.m.), but our check-in was at 3 p.m. We called Stay Alfred to ask if we could check in early, but we told that we had to wait until 3 p.m. according to the contract. We also asked if we could simply park our car in the provided parking to avoid additional charges, since we had already paid the $20 per day for parking at The Vistana. Again, we were told that we could not check in or obtain the parking fob until 3:00pm. About fifteen minutes after the conversation (2:15 p.m.), we received a call that the dishwasher in our rental was not draining properly and it would not be fixed before the 3pm check-in time. We were then given the option of allowing the repair crew to enter when we were not present or arrange a time to be in the unit for the repair. My wife and I did not feel comfortable with either of those options. We did not feel comfortable with strangers going in and out of the unit, having access to our belongings without us being present, nor did we feel that we should spend our time in the unit, waiting for someone to show between the hours of 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. We simply did not have available time in our schedule and also did not want to spend our available time waiting on repair services as one would have to do for their own home. According to the contract, to which we were referred when asking about an early check-in, there were two options if we were not satisfied with a "fully-furnished" unit: 1. relocation (of which there were no units available) or 2. refund, both options are at Stay Alfred's discretion. Stay Alfred stated that my wife and I could discuss a fair refund. We agreed that 50% would be fair, which was countered by Stay Alfred at 15%. We were told that a non-working dishwasher is a minor disruption and that a discount of 15% was more than enough. After further inspection of the unit (Rm# 726), the electrical outlet that supplied power to the fan/light in both bedrooms did not work correctly, such that, when one were to turn on only the fan, the light would flicker. There were hairs in the tub and the bottom of the shower liner was drenched with water, being about a foot too long and sitting on the bottom of the tub floor, as well as being covered in light pink scum on the bottom (the liner was later replaced by Stay Alfred). During the day, the lighting in any of the rooms wasn't adequate, but, at night, the lighting sufficed. Being that our dishwasher was not working and our schedule was very tight, we were forced to have to spend additional funds on eating out instead of being able to save that money by using the kitchen we had intentionally incorporated in our decision to stay at The Vistana. It may seem "petty" as it was put by one representative, but the actual time we had was very limited by a schedule for the event we were attending and the "convenience" of the dishwasher would have been a huge benefit and a time saver. At the end of our stay, we found that Stay Alfred does not supply trash service (nor do they supply kitchen-sized garbage bags); you must take all of your own trash to a trash chute at the end of a hall (in tiny bags that barely fit a bathroom trash can), although we had already been charged for cleaning services. We even found ourselves taking out the bathroom garbage of the previous renter. After agreeing to a refund, Stay Alfred's accounting department credited the incorrect amount to two different credit cards (one was ours and one was a friend's) and did not return any phone calls to help rectify the mistake, nor did they take any further initiative in the rectification. I am a Desert Storm war veteran, so my advice to those who are or were in the military - especially those stationed at Fort Sam Houston - steer clear of The Vistana. It is my opinion that, if Stay Alfred will treat a war veteran in this manner, this company will do no better for those who are not. If Stay Alfred does something in the future to assist in rectifying their error, I will update this post. If you, the reader, do not see an update to this post, you can be certain that Stay Alfred has done nothing and you can expect the same hospitality we received.