Broken toilet ✔️ Non-stop construction noise ✔️ Semen-stained sheets ✔️ Power blackout ✔️ Hours-late airport pickup ✔️ Broken faucet ✔️ Disgusting swimming pool ✔️ Deceptive, uncontactable host ✔️
It's hard to know where to begin with this review. Let's start at the beginning. In his eagerness to take my money, Martin clicked accept on my reservation without first reading my query about a late check-in. Realising his mistake, he decided to send a friend to collect me from the airport and give me the keys to his apartment. It didn't seem to bother Martin this friend would be busy singing opera when I landed so would be several hours late to collect me. It was a sign of things to come.
I didn't even use the apartment for the first week as I decided to go on a motorcycle trip. When I returned, there was the LOUDEST construction noise I have ever heard in my life from the apartment next door. With the furniture vibrating, I was forced to move into a hotel in order to get some sleep. (I work at nights so need to rest in the daytime.) Martin offered no help in liaising with the construction crew to determine when it would end. Martin was impossible to reach on the phone (he runs an ad agency, I believe, and his Airbnb is a small concern to him) so I reached out to Airbnb. They called me back to say that Martin had refused to offer me any compensation for my hotel costs as the noise was out of his control. I was stuck paying for both an apartment AND a hotel.
When I noticed some CRUSTY RESIDUE on the duvet, I brought it to Martin's attention. He apologised for not cleaning all of the sheets properly before I moved in. Yes, I actually have screen shots of this text message exchange. I felt sick to my stomach and told him so. When he came over to fix a BROKEN TOILET, he finally changed the sheets.
Yes, the toilet flushing mechanism broke. Basically, every lever or faucet in the upstairs bathroom area became loose or unscrewed. It all must have been poorly installed to begin with. Rather than send someone to repair the problem, Martin asked me to (a) go downstairs, (b) take apart the downstairs toilet, (c) take a photo of the mechanism, (d) go upstairs, (e) take apart the upstairs toilet, and (f) reconstruct it to match the photo. He basically asked me to use my spare time on vacation to be his plumber. I actually took him up on his request, but to no avail. The toilet lever needed professional help, which eventually did happen after Martin's own failed attempt at repairing it.
When the power went out (such a common occurrence that there are warning signs around the apartment) I once again could not reach Martin on the phone. In the dark, I tripped over a small waste bin. He later tried to charge me for damaging this item. In the end, I had to go outside the building and get inside the fuse box myself, which I was not comfortable doing.
Martin started off being inept but friendly and ended up just passing his hosting responsibilities on to his partner, Carolina. Unlike him, she would / could not speak English so I had to use Google Translate with every text exchange. Usually I would not need to chat with the host much but so many things went wrong at this apartment that chats were daily.
When I mentioned to Martin that he was running low on Nespresso capsules, he replaced his entire inventory (GOOD), but tried to charge me for capsules that I knew I would not be using (BAD), in contradiction to his own pay-for-what-you-use policy (printed on the wall). When I brought this up, he admitted that his request went against his own House Rules. Scandalous behaviour from someone who prioritises taking a guest's money over their individual welfare and comfort.
I wouldn't even think about using the rooftop pool unless pigeon poop, murky water and a lack of pool furniture doesn't bother you. The less said there the better.
At the end of the day, there are some great apartments to rent in Buenos Aires. Despite the shiny listing photos, the reality is that this is not one of them, I'm very sorry to tell you.