I am just writing an honest review which I hope her next guests can see before booking as I wish I would had have the same opportunity before this trip.
and I am glad to have a chance to talk to Lucy face to face before we checked out.
Here are some feedbacks and comments:-
1. only 2 forks in the unit (we have 4 guests in the unit)
2. no tongs (have to cook a steak with a knife and a long spoon, what an experience)
3. no salt
4. only have 2 chairs with a small dining table (we have 4 guests in the unit)
5. old and yellowish towels
6. have a TV but no TV channels. ( we went to 2 different Airbnb units before this and they also both offered Netflix with their TVs and we got to enjoy the experience of watching at least some local Australian shows which we couldn't watch in Singapore. For Lucy's unit, You have to use your own Netflix to mirror on her TV and watch the same Singapore shows)
7. feel the noise and vibration from the lift every few minutes until late at night but still can feel the vibration on your pillow at 3am if you are a light sleeper
8. misleading photo with a resident dining room which you cant book if your stay less than 5 days (btw, who will book the resident dining room for every night they stay?)
instead of posting the real dining table inside the unit.
9. People dont pick up your call for a reason as it is super expensive to pick up a local Australian call from a Singapore number in Australia especially nowadays Whatsapp, Wechat,Viber are free to call with data ( can tell from her face that you are the problem again as you don't want to communicate). Next time pls try to offer to ask your next guest " Is there a better way to connect with you like Whatsapp, Wechat, Viber while you are in Australia rather than trying to keep calling the overseas number again and again.
10. Extremely hard instruction to remove the padlock when collecting the key for check in (suggest you take a video to show your guest before check in) and it is not fair to your next guest when you say you have to pay for it if it is lost and you don't follow her instruction to collect the pad lock with you while you check-in. It is not easy to collect the padlock without seeing how to operate in person or on video.
The pad lock is mainly for your own convenience so that you don't have to wait for your guest arrival but it is not even a proper way to put your key and pad lock on the street ( who knows your local authorities might just cut and remove those improper items on street) and now you want to put the liability to your guest if lost. This is really not a pleasant experience from a host to a guest from overseas.
11. $60 per day carpark (take note if you are driving)
12. She said normally her guest won't cook at her place (so it become my problem for cooking now).
13. Super defensive host, (my wrong, her last guest wrong, her cleaner wrong, nothing is wrong with her). every problem is either you, your previous guest, her cleaner, etc except her.
Asked you to compare hotels nearby ($600 plus per night and you are just paying a fraction of it now). Fact check hotel nearby is about $100 to $200 plus even the nearest Hilton is $271 per night, and we are paying $300 plus for her unit)
I am glad this is not the last stay of my Melbourne trip or the whole trip will be spoilt. This is my countless visit to Australia and the apartment/Airbnb experience was always wonderful until we stayed in this Airbnb unit. This is indeed the worst experience. and I won't compare you to a nearby hotel as you are not even in the same category (just like a hawker center stall is not comparable to a fine dining restaurant even though they might sell the same dish. But some hawker stall's food do taste better then those fine dining restaurant one just like the one we stayed before your unit). The way she implied was you are paying a fraction of the "fine dining restaurant (hotel)" so you know what to expect). I only compare you to other Airbnb units as they are in the same category and my Airbnb experience right before this unit was always memorable and unique to its own.
Lastly, Lucy mentioned she is also an experienced traveler (implying she knows what to expect from a host/Airbnb).
A guest like me is visiting Australia for a wonderful and memorable holiday but not wasting time to write such a long review. Again this is not a good experience for us.