Acanthus

We loved the Acanthus House. We stayed upstairs in two separate rooms (family of 5). We had everything we needed, and it was fun staying in a house with such character and charm. The kitchen was well supplied. The yard was also nice and the property manager was so nice when we called asking for advice on some activities. I feel like staying here gave us an authentic experience of the Pacific NW.

We recently stayed at the Acanthus Suites in Friday Harbor in the Farmers Suite for a long weekend with our adult son.Pros: Great location, clean, good size, and is walking distance to an Ace Hardware.Cons: Attention to detail and general maintenance appear to be an issue and Property Managers are non-responsive to reported issues (see detail below).Smoke detector battery issue: When we checked in we saw that the smoke detector in the front bedroom was hanging by the wires from the ceiling. It seemed to be working so we were not overly concerned. Early on the second morning the smoke detector in that room started going off. After some confusion and the realization that there was no evidence of smoke and none of the other smoke detectors were going off we tried pushing the reset the one that was going off. This stopped the alarm but it then started chirping which is usually an indication that the battery is bad. I called the property manager at 8:15 am and left a message on their machine explaining the problem. They called me back at 10 am. After explaining the issue again I gave them permission to go into the room to fix the problem while we were out. We got back to our suite at 5:15 pm and noticed that the smoke detector was still chirping. I called the Property Manager to find out why they were unable to fix the issue and left a message on their machine. Tried to reach them a couple more times to no avail, since we knew that no one could sleep in the room with the chirping noise my husband had to walk down to Ace Hardware and buy a battery and change it himself. I called the PM to let them know that we had changed the battery and asked them to call me back. They never called.Shower head defective: The shower head was broken and provided a trickle of water that made rinsing soap off your body a challenge and would have made rinsing long hair impossible. This was reported at the same time as the smoke detector issue. A repair was promised but never made. My husband purchased an inexpensive low-flow shower head from Ace Hardware and switched out the one in the unit so that we could take showers and wash/rinse our hair. We put the old one back before leaving and left the new one there for the next guest just in case…Blow dryer does not work: The heating element in the blow dryer appears to be defective so it only blows cold, making it difficult to dry your hair. I purchased one from Ace Hardware to use but recommend that you bring your own just in case…Only one mirror in the unit: As was mentioned in a previous review the only mirror in the suite is in the bathroom, making it tricky for multiple people to get ready in the morning. It seems like an easy fix would be to put mirrors in each of the bedrooms. I mentioned this to the Property Manager and she said she would let the owners know.