This Airbnb has an excellent location right near the tram stop in a great part of Melbourne. “Ned” had a team running this Airbnb. Stay Melbourne responded immediately but the fact I had to contact them a few times was frustrating. We booked for five nights with two couples. We arrived to find three useable drinking glasses, two rolls of toilet paper in our ensuite and two tiny sachets of washing up liquid. A match box size of uht milk and a few instant coffee sachets etc but we couldn’t even make four people a coffee until we went shopping. We were tired and the place felt soulless.
Yes Melbourne is for eating out but occasionally you want to be in the Airbnb. One of the glasses was cracked. When I contacted “Ned” to say glass was cracked they responded immediately with “no problem”. But it wasn’t until the next day when I explicitly stated three glasses not ok for four guests that they offered to get more. Then I mentioned the toilet paper and washing up supplies so they also delivered more. I’ve stayed in lots of Airbnbs where you really feel like you’re valued and where little touches make you enjoy it. Here I I was dealing with anonymous staff who only had a corporate polite and jargon like response . When we used the washing machine it wasn’t connected properly resulting in water flooding everywhere. Thank goodness we hadn’t left the unit. All the towels were used to mop it up. Again the team apologised and offered to drop new towels around. The fact we had half a day lost to sorting out the machine and mopping up waiting and stressing out about the water etc was just disappointing. Simple things like a working washing machine should be a given. And when things go wrong if you can problem solve with the actual owner it’s okay.
Superficially the place looks good. Less money on fake decor items and more useful items would be good. But the cost cutting with thin sheets and towels and only one pillow per person also of a poor quality is symbolic of this team’s approach. The television is very tiny and as the World Cup was on we had hoped to enjoy it. I really felt frustrated. We made the most of the excellent location and enjoyed sitting out on the terrace.