StayHaven -A Converted Historic Church 8500+ SQFT!

Good time and location.

We had a small group staying for business meetings and a diner with a larger Group of colleagues. The place was perfect and everyone loved the feel of this cool old church and what was done with it. Highly recommend to anyone !!!

We came to Philly for my daughter’s college graduation, looking for a central location, large enough to sleep 10-with a kitchen and large common area. We had family flying in from all over the country, and thought that this place would be perfect. Unfortunately, it was not. I had to request the information packet while we were driving to the city, and only received it as we were pulling into Philadelphia. Upon reading the detailed packet about the home, I saw something concerning, which said that ALL food must be kept in the refrigerator. However, I assumed that food still in packaging would be fine. I had already purchased hundreds of dollars of food for the weekend, most of which was shelf stable and would not have fit in a refrigerator. The host’s disclosure of this information indicates to me that he knew they had a serious rodent problem. After our second night at the house, we woke up to a mess in the kitchen. A rat or other very large rodent opened bread bags by chewing through with their teeth and ate through quite a few bagels. Whatever it was was large enough to remove an entire bagel from a bag. I immediately reached out the host and did not hear from him for a few hours. While I waited to hear back, I sanitized as much as I could in the kitchen and tried to run dishes in the dishwasher. While it was running, the dishwasher leaked all over the floor. When I heard from the owner, he denied having rats but reiterated their policy of not having food outside of the refrigerator and claimed that food packaging was not sufficient to keep out rodents. I asked him to reimburse us for the third night so that we could stay elsewhere, he refused but promised to send a cleaning crew to the house that day. Hours later, when we were returning from graduation, I reached out to find out if the cleaning crew had come. He claimed that they had an emergency and never made it over. So, all 9 of us, including a baby, had to sleep at a house with a serious rodent problem that went unaddressed. This house cost us a lot of money so we expected a high standard to be met. There are two apartments attached to the house that seem to have access to the area where we stayed. The host informed us just before our arrival that any visitors (not overnight guests) to the house would be assessed a guest fee. Fortunately, I was able to talk him out of it. Host is unprepared, unprofessional, and the house should be removed. I shared photos w/VRBO

The property is very spacious and good for 3-4 couples. The bedrooms are large, and each have their own bathroom which we found to be a big bonus. Throughout the booking process and our stay, the host was very quick to respond. The property is not good for the elderly or handicap, as the stairs are difficult to navigate. And the kitchen would benefit from a couple cosmetic updates. But overall, a great stay and a property my family will remember for a long time.

We really enjoyed our time in Montara and appreciated the beautiful setting and the quiet