Cute, conveniently located, but uncomfortable. First, it was COLD. For reference, we were there on typical winter days: near freezing at night and about 10 C/50 F in the afternoon. The place is heated by a fireplace in the living room, which is charming, but barely sufficient in the evening, given that it is used to heat the entire place. We spent our evenings on the couch in our street clothes with blankets. The host offers a space heater, but only on request – a fact that is easy to miss in the intro message. In the intro message, the host also states that guests should turn off the fireplace when sleeping. In other words, THE HOST WANTS YOU TO TURN OFF THE PRIMARY HEAT AT THE COLDEST TIME OF DAY. That being the case, there should be 2 space heaters *provided standard*: 1 per bedroom. It’s hard to be comfortable when cold. We’ve stayed in many Airbnbs in cold weather and have never encountered this issue.
Second, the beds and couch were uncomfortable. The couch seems to be a corner section from a sectional, plus two short extensions. There’s a bit of a gap in the back between sections. The mattresses were too firm (this is obviously a matter of taste); the springs could be felt through one of them. We got poor nights of sleep.
Third, the host has left several food/drink items for purchase (think hotel mini-bar), and also free tea, coffee, milk, and a couple of fancy chocolates. We made two wine purchases ($30 each): a nice Riesling and an absolutely horrible pinot noir. To our taste, it seemed like sour juice with no alcohol. That’s a very unusual experience. Was it degraded because stored improperly or something like that? Definitely BYOB.
Two final, more minor, issues: The clawfoot tub is cute, but even clipping the shower curtains together at the showerhead side of the tub doesn’t prevent a stream of water from exiting the tub and making its way almost to the living room. The giant old fashioned key for the front door is cute but somewhat impractical. It is too big for a typical key locker, preventing the usual painless entry process at Airbnbs. Instead, the host has to leave the place unlocked, asking what time you’re arriving, so they don’t leave it unlocked for too long. It’s slightly annoying because it requires extra communication and coordination with the host before check-in. Also, it was a little hard to use; took a lot of fiddling to unlock from the outside. A typical key\key locker or electronic entry system would solve that.
Aesthetically, the place really is done-up very nicely. It is clear that a lot of attention has been put into making it cute. The host even provides some “medicinal magnesium rose petal relaxant bath salts.” They are clearly making an effort. And the location is outstanding, near North Hobart cafes, restaurants, and nightlife. However, cuteness and location don’t compensate for discomfort.