PROS: This apartment was clean and tastefully decorated, located in a very nice and hip area. Restaurants, cafes and shopping are within walking distance. CONS: Hosts are Unaccommodating, Unavailable and Condescending.
I thought it was cultural differences at first with previous emails but when the same behavior continued after we checked in, I start to feel uncomfortable with the approach! Savas was OOCountry during our visit and Luciana was going to check us in. When we arrived, Fernando, (sweetest doorman) told us that Luciana was going to be there in 30 mins. Generally, the host are already waiting for us when we arrive. It was late and we were tired and hungry. In 30 mins came a man who didn't look too happy, telling us that Luciana was out of town and that he was checking us in instead. We were only given one set of keys so I emailed Luciana and Savas that night requesting for another set since my friend and I have different plans and would be inconvenient for us to share one set of keys. Luciana responded, "Jade, I am out of the city until monday, so I cant give you another set of key until then!" We checked in Friday night and checking out Tuesday, meaning that we would have to stress over the key business almost the entire stay. On the next email response from Savas, he said, "For security reasons we do not provide a second set of keys. This is our permanent policy and please try to respect it. So far with more than a 100 different guests from all over the world, hasn' t been a problem. Please try to find a way to manage." Hmmm... this apartment can potentially accommodate 4 people. Unless more than 100 of his previous guests are solo travelers or couples who are join at the hip, it's hard to believe that it hasn't been a problem to have one set of keys to be shared among all parties? And "please try to respect it"? implying that this is an unreasonable request? And "Please try to find a way to manage"! Sounds hospitable enough? On this trip, we have stayed at 4 airbnbs and each of them offered 2 sets of keys without being asked, except for this one. One of them even offered 3 sets. On another email, Luciana told us to make a copy of the key since she cant get someone to get into the office to get the keys for us before Monday and Savas is telling us this. All these just dont add up. Rather than getting into an email war with them, we just "found a way to manage" since by the time we get this resolved we would be checking out. Needless to say, it was a frustrating ordeal. Unless you are willing to put up with the bad attitude and inferior hospitality, and have the patience to coordinate the key business, you are much better off staying elsewhere.