This was the worst Airbnb experience we have had. There are problems with the host, the condition of the apparent, and the actual apartment. When we checked in the first problem discovered was the main blind was not functioning. It was tied up with string. The host (Andrew) refused to speak to me on the phone, insisting "please message thru the app". In hindsight that's probably a good thing, as there is now a record of all the problems raised, and his response.
This isn't the best organised review, but hopefully it has all the points that matter.
The host Andrew was notified of a few problems. He never apologised for the problems, and gave excuses. Broken blind? Response: "... this is not a hotel this is someones investment property the blind being down does not affect your access as there is another door to get in and out of". Smoke alarm discovered on second day hanging from ceiling open without battery? Response: "There multiple working smoke detectors in the apt". Dirt on the veranda? Response: "it faces a main road and there is construction around it doesn’t take long to get dusty again". (Well I can tell you now, it was spotless after I swept it, and surprise surprise it stayed clean for the week we were there. We could not see any construction around.)
I eventually gave up letting him know there were problem. When I asked him "Yes there are other alarms. Do you want me to let you know about problems or not? Or are you already aware of these issues?", his response was "The property has no issues I know of I am an experienced manager with 50 properties under management".
The other big problem was that it appeared that it had not been properly cleaned. We found a half eaten ice-cream tub and chocolate bar in the freezer, and previous guest's shampoo in the shower. The cleaner had left out their equipment including an un-emptied bucket. This is not something you want to see when arriving at an Airbnb.
The apartment itself has some aspects which are not great. It is a little unsettling when you realise that the back door opens directly into the building's underground carpark. This is a space for around 100 cars, and the air isn't great. It's not nice opening a door in your apartment to this space, and even worse when the neighbour is doing maintenance on his car and leaves it running, exhaust pipe metres from your door. The apartment uses a series of sliding glass doors for the bedrooms, and many many blinds. They mostly work, but are fiddly. The master bedroom has no windows and was very warm - we had to sleep with the door slid fully open. The apartment is is close to a main road and there is little noise insulation.
We might not have been the clientele he was looking for as we found over 20 wine glasses and about a dozen champagne flutes in the kitchen. (Although house rules say no parties?)
Other issues:
- Cleaner had left out their vacuum cleaner, mops and buckets (un-emptied) and cleaning gloves.
- Previous guest's tub of half eaten ice-cream and chocolate bar still in the freezer.
- Previous guest's shampoo still in shower.
- Multiple broken lights.
- Towel rack and hand towel ring are not fixed suitably to the plasterboard wall and are loose. (You can actually see this in the listing photo of the hand towel ring slanting down.)
- Chipped bathroom lamp cover.
- There was a tiny amount of shampoo and conditioner provided, and no body wash. Listing said all would be provided.