My friend and I rented the Snave House last-minute as our on-island friend just had a baby. I vacation in BI often (I had gotten married there), and my friend grew up going there every summer. We know what to expect out of BI antique rentals: simplicity, charm and not usually a ton of bells and whistles (I myself own a home from the 1800s - I love antiques).

A couple of days before our arrival, my friend's infant came down with diarrhea with a fever, and as so often happens with little babies in this situation, we did not know whether this would be a 24 hour bug or something more. I had called the owner asking that if we weren't able to make it up, whether we could have our money refunded.She responded she'd keep a $200 fee and return us the remaining $1,000 for our stay. I didn't think this to be so unreasonable, though the fee a bit unncessary considering the house would have sat vacant anyway. Fortunately, my friend's son only had a virus and it went away in a couple of days.

When we arrived at the house, we were taken aback by the state of the house. There was wallpaper ripping off the walls, a strong smell of must/mold in the air, thick layers of dust covering the fans, stains on the mattresses, and feces in the downstairs toilet that wouldn't initially flush. The nephew of the owner came over (unannounced-we had no idea who he was) to show us how to operate the shower appropriately because the door to the shower was broken. Half the light fixtures didn't even have lightbulbs in them. The mattresses were the most uncomfortable that we had ever slept on! And the sheets that I was provided with to sleep on mine were much too small. Lastly, one would think that if you are renting an old house in late spring (expensively, too), you would have the means to keep it warm considering there is little insulation in the walls. The upstairs heaters were broken, which left the 2 rooms our babies slept in freezing. The landlord's solution was to jack up the heat downstairs (it was a cold night in the low 40s), which left the rooms not that much warmer upstairs and the downstairs in the 80s in the a.m. She offered a space heater for the next day - but which baby's room would get the heater? A realtor friend found us another place to stay and the Snave House landlord refused to refund us for the remaining 2 nights, despite explaining to her why frigid rooms at night and babies are an issue (never mind all the other issues we encountered). Renters beware!