McElroy Manor - Luxury and comfort in Big Canoe!

Rented home for sev days up to and after my daughter's wedding nearby.This house has a fantastic and beautiful layout for large groups, but has major flaws in design & execution of a large capacity home which are just not acceptable. Upon entering, many of the cabinets are in terrible shape, one of the cabinet doors was off its hinge and instead of reporting it, my husband opted to just fix it, a whole of 5 min or less job we shouldnt have to do. Then we wanted to start our stay with a toast of wine, but no wine bottle opener anywhere and in the search found many other utensils were lacking. So lets try the hot tub, which was fabulous for the record, but no extra towels for this amenity and bath towels are severely lacking throughout for a large capacity home . For a home with 7 bedrooms and sleeping up to 14 per law (actually sleeps more), as all our guests (including the officient and his wife) began to get dressed for my daugher's big wedding, the hot water ran out after only 2 1/2 showers leaving many guests with no choice but to take freezing cold showers. Then, as they began to use appliances like hair dryers in separate bathrooms, the breakers tripped, indicating either more than one bathroom is on the same breaker or the breaker is not sufficient for the room. This left guests scrambling all over the house, half dressed, desperate to find outlets without mirrors to get properly dressed. What a disaster. The rest was wonderful but this left a bad taste.

This Home was spacious and had a wonderful view. The community of Big Canoe had many activities such as well marked trails, dog parks, playgrounds and pool. The home needed better supplies for the large number of guests. The kitchen supplies could be updated such as pots, casserole dishes and utensils. They only provide one set of towels per guest which they did communicate with us but it would be nice to have been given a few extra. There were no dish towels. We had to purchase. The oven door did not close properly. The hot water heater ran out of hot water quickly after just washing dishes or 1 shower. The lower level shower never really did get hot only warm. All in all the hot water heater needs to be changed to larger to accolade the large home. We did adapt after a few days by staggering shower times. The Jack/Jill pocket door did not lock. The kids playroom/game room was a bonus and enjoyed by my grandkids. The media/Movie room was a treat and easy to use. The hot tub was functional and clean! All in all, I would recommend this rental with the improvements needed to accommodate a large family group. The rental agent did come out and respond to our concerns about the hot water situation. We had a fabulous family Christmas and enjoyed hiking on Big Canoe trails, the fabulous views and visiting Dahlonega and Amicalola Falls State Park.

The home needs some attention as far as upkeep is concerned. We had trouble with the code getting into the house and not sure it was fixed because we didn’t see anyone come out nor was there any further communication. We used a different door to go in & out while we were there in fear of being locked out again. It was very spacious & the view was beautiful.

Loved the layout of the house. It was really comfortable for 6 adults and 5 kids. The house does need a little maintenance though. The pocket door to the bathroom doesn't move and some of the bathroom sinks don't drain properly. We notified the property manager but it wasn't remedied during our stay. Also, the mattresses in 2 of the rooms were very thin and uncomfortable.

Big Canoe is an absolutely beautiful place and the house was beautiful, excellent views, pretty drive. However, there are things that could be improved. The house is 6,900 sqft and there was a maximum number of 17 guest. The property manager did work with us which was much appreciated, but dealing with the names at the gate was tedious. Especially when peoples plans change. We got a lot of rain during our visit and the door to the deck off the kitchen was leaking pretty badly. There were very limited towels and the house was seriously lacking kitchenware (plates being a big one). The ceiling fans and lights in each room operate on the same software so it was very difficult to get your room comfortable because other remotes in the house would change your settings unexpectedly. The pocket door in the Jack and Jill bathroom was not functioning properly and needs to be addressed. One of the garage doors wasn’t working and we had to strap up a tree that was blocking the driveway to the house.As beautiful as the community was, it’s unlikely we would return.

The house was definitely large enough to handle our group of 14. Although the Management Company responded to our calls, we still had to go through the weekend with a broken kitchen faucet and a couple of the games not working properly. The Hot Tub had not been cleaned recently. I suggest increasing the number of towels in the kitchen and the bathrooms when renting to larger groups like ours.