The apartment is in a new building with two bed rooms and one study. one bedroom with a queen bed, AC and ensuite. The second room has another queen bed with AC. Both rooms have small curtains on the window, however the glass window is not tinted for privacy. The third study room has a single bed with no window and no AC. A second bathroom in place which was a good asset. The couch in the lounging area can be extended to a queen bed, however, the entire lounge area does not have any curtain rendering it, making it difficult to sleep there. This is a significant issue in summer when the sun penetrates the windows, preventing you from staying in lounge area. The TV in the lounge area doesn’t have a signal. However, there is Apple TV which you can connect on your phone, and access news, movies, etc. Furthermore, there is a garage area under the building where you are allocated a parking spot, to park your motor vehicle. We stayed in apartment number G06, with the allocated spot of no.5 to park our vehicle. We are a family of six that stayed seven nights, with no cleaning services available, which was not cheap to rent considering all of the inadequate things. In the background there is the continuous sounds of trams and long cargo trams passing above your head every five minutes, that start very early in the morning to late at night. Due to there being no curtains in the lounge area, there are always opportunities for you to wave and clearly see the passengers passing by. As you can see this becomes a significant privacy issue, as people are able to look through into the lounge area, which is meant to be an area where you feel comfortable. The apartment is well located in Clayton, with a lot of nearby shops on Clayton road that are 5 minutes walking distance. However by saying this, you do need to prepare to travel 45-60 minutes daily to get to the city or if you are a tourist. In addition, the owner of the apartment tried to
rip us off by asking for an additional $100 for cleaning to be paid directly to her account outside of Airbnb. Albeit us paying that and other fees to Airbnb. She argued that Airbnb took commission and hence her asking to compensate her loss.
She then blackmailed us and hid checking in details including apartment number and the key until we contacted Airbnb who gave her 30 min to respond. During that time we had to wait on the street for further info from Airbnb, even though we messaged the owner with an agreement on arrival timing a few days before and sent an additional message to the owner when we were 30 mins away. We ended up getting the keys and details after Airbnb’s interference. While we were in Melbourne she continuously sent emails late at night, which became very annoying considering we were on holidays. In the emails she kept asking to come to the apartment to sight proof our vaccination certificate, even though this was not a condition when making the booking. Although, we told her we were double vax with the booster, she still persisted in coming to the apartment. As a result, we had to ask Airbnb again to interfere, to stop her from annoying us with all her emails. Although, I do understand that the owner is trying to do their part for safety, in nowhere on the Airbnb listing or site was asked for proof of vaccination certificate or a warning that the owner would be continuously emailing us late at night. Although all the adults are triple vaxed, we denied her coming to the apartment and asked Airbnb again to interfere and stop her annoying us. Overall, the price to rent the house is not worth all of the trouble you go through. Make sure you make up your mind before booking, and ensure there is no deal outside legal Airbnb channels to prevent getting ripped off.