The experience was a mixed bag, I'll start with the good. It's a modern apartment in a high-rise on the 20th floor with functional furniture in the spacious and well lit living room - couch, TV, round glass table with chairs and power sockets (suitable for laptop workstation). The balcony is small but very pleasant and breezy with, a nice place to have breakfast on the plastic chair overseeing city views. The living room has an A/C unit and its carpet extends into the bedroom. Modern and pleasant bath with walk-in shower. The apartment is reasonably quiet, you don't notice any neighbour and the glass doors keep most of the city noises out. I'm a light sleeper sensitive to noise and didn't have any trouble with it. Communication with the host is excellent, he responds quickly and politely. Location is good with a Woolies nearby and the city a walk away. Walking along the Yarra river can also be nice. I didn't find any good parking spots for my car (so I left it in the suburbs) but I used the tram station right across the road from the building entrance many times. Wifi was good throughout, though I did have to switch my computer to 2.4 GHz as it had issues with 5 GHz, while my phone was happy on either.
The bad - mostly not meeting all expectations. I've been to quite a few Airbnbs, so I have reasonable yet flexible expectations, based on both my experience and what the listing says. The first eyebrow raised was the host offering me his own chauffeur service from the airport at a reduced price of $75 (from $95). After opting for a lower cost ride share service he sent me a screenshot showing an Uber would cost almost the same at $70. I was doubtful, and my Uber ended up costing $35.80 so his offer felt disingenuous. The listing indicated self check-in with the doorman. There is no doorman (so both check in method and "Building staff" amenities were incorrect), and the host hands you over the keys at the lobby. That's fine, but unexpected. Then walking into the apartment I found it was not clean at all. The fridge, microwave, oven and some dishes were not clean, the sofa, cupboards and night stands had visible evidence of previous occupants, and apart from the bathroom every single area needed attention. It appears like the bathroom was cleaned and the entire flat was mopped and vacuumed, but that's it. It cannot possibly meet Airbnb's "enhanced cleaning process" they claim on their listing. Also, house rules state "no smoking" but the balcony had an ashtray full of cigarette butts luckily no smell inside the apartment. I immediately raised those issues with the host and within an hour a cleaner came while I left to give them some space to work. When I came back, everything was clean to my satisfaction. An inconvenience, but the host's response was swift and effective, so that's not too bad.
But then you start noticing other small things, like there being no hand soap in the dispenser in the bathroom, no shampoo in the shower (as listed). Or despite advertising a gym as one of the amenities, the gym was closed (though gyms have already reopened throughout Melbourne). The listing mentioned it has a Wii Gaming Console (it does, the original 2006 one) but all the remote batteries were flat so it was unusable. There is a built in closet in the bedroom, but it doesn't have any shelves below 2m height, only hangers, so I ended up living out of my luggage. The bedroom itself is quite small and taken up almost entirely by the bed with just enough room to walk around it, and it doesn't have a window. Rather, it's an internal room with a sliding door having semi-opaque glass to let some light in. Though closing the door won't let any of the A/C in which makes it a challenge during the warmer Melbourne nights. The bed is creaky and the innerspring mattress is uncomfortable - not terrible but not great either. The listing mentioned blackout blinds, but there are only semi-transparent rollup blinds on the balcony, and none in the bedroom. Lastly, the entire apartment doesn't have a single item of decoration. Not one hung picture, not a single vase, not even a plastic IKEA plant. It is 100% functional and minimalistic. Actually, there is one pillow on the couch, and the bedside lamps are somewhat decorative with their crystals, but one of them is broken (and so is one of the night stand drawers). This style (or lack thereof) might appeal to some but it felt sterile to me.
Overall I've had a decently pleasant stay, but there's a lot of room for improvement like making sure the listing is accurate *before* the a guest makes a booking and making sure the apartment is clean *before* the guest arrives. Also, a better (foam) mattress, a house plant and a couple of decorations on the otherwise empty walls can make the place a lot more inviting. The host was very attentive and accomodating during my visit, and was accomodating when I needed a late check-out, so I'm sure he'll read this and make the next guest's stay an even better experience.