We really would have liked to love this place; mostly the pictures appear just too promising. But what a bummer - in the end we wound up thoroughly regretting that we booked.
Only bright spot: I kept all important communication on the Airbnb platform and filed a claim with Airbnb within 24 hours for various Travel Issues in accordance to the Guest Refund Policy.
TLDR:
The host (as we experienced them): shady¹, careless², uncompromising³, indifferent⁴ to regulations and security⁵ issues.
The listing: certainly with great potential, yet poorly operated, dirty⁶ and smelly⁷, misleadingly advertised⁸.
Highlights: Nonoperating⁰ elevator throughout our entire stay (apartment in top floor, i.e. ~25-30m above ground level). Dead bird hovering next to the terrace. Disgusting odour trap smell.
Disclaimer: Frankly, I'd rather not have relived this stay for the sake of a review. Alas, since the host surprisingly had the audacity to submit a review after this experience (I'm really curious what they've come up with) and even prompted us to submit our feedback here, presenting my experience was warranted.
Details:
0: The elevator was nonoperating even before we arrived which the host certainly knew, but did not bother to consult us about. Given the height of the building it was really no fun to walk to the top floor when you were promised you can count on this amenity. With my pregnant partner and her parents who have problems with their knees, having to carry our rather heavy luggage in several rounds for me was probably still the least nuisance in comparison. A letter from the building administration dating back over a week before our check-in on display in the entrance area of the building left no doubt (my translation from German): "Dear residents, due to repeated damages of the elevator door resulting from vandalism (charges have been filed with the police) during the last weeks, we inform you that a last repair effort will be executed by [name of company]. In the case of further vandalism, the elevator will be decommissioned for several months due to technical reasons and supply difficulties concerning spare parts." Had we been informed by the host about this Travel Issue, at least in our situation, we would certainly have asked them to take over the responsibility and provide us with appropriate accommodation somewhere else or cancel the stay (on their side) in time.
1: The host declines to identify themselves, even upon explicit request (they're not "Julius, and "Julius Apartments" seems to be a cover name rather than the name of an officially operating company). So it remains undisclosed whether you are dealing with a single landlord or a company. In particular, I was relieved nothing worse happened, else I would not have known who to hold responsible, but the mere impression that everything is set up to stay anonymous was worrying and left me wondering why.
2: Unexpectedly I found my private data (names, a.s.o.) relating to this stay forwarded to a third-party website without having being asked for previous consent. There I was prompted to book subsequent stays off Airbnb and prompted to communicate off Airbnb which I fortunately avoided.
3: The host declined to refund the cleaning fee (70€), although the state of the apartment was abysmal and even though they claimed (see 6) they use a professional cleaning company that would have refunded them easily for insufficient service. Three hours after my message in the morning (in which I merely documented the state of the place so we would not be held responsible later and so they could reach out to the "cleaning company"; I wouldn't have minded the delay per se, but), the host "generously" offered a full refund — yet only if we were to leave within 2 hours (while we were out in the city center; and without any idea where to stay the next night…).
4: Not a single word concerning local government anti-pandemic measures to follow was mentioned. Also, there was no indication what proper process is in place to fulfill obligations (if any) to register their guests with the municipality. Since the host did not disclose their identity and did not notify before booking (e.g. in the listing, through house rules) that they would require us to register through a third-party website we did not provide further private data (it did not affect our possibility to check-in, though, which we were worried about).
5: The wifi router is not secured (admin password on open display) and anybody can activate remote access to control the device via Internet during the next guest's stay.
6: Stained bedware, sticky surfaces, previous guest's clothes not removed (also, see point 7), several amenities run down. I won't omit to say that the host did indeed offer to send a cleaner, but given the doubts about who we're dealing with (see point 1 above), we had substiantial reservations to grant access to the place while absent, and only one night before check-out we would have preferred if the host had simply reimbursed us the cleaning fee voluntarily.
7: The odour trap(s) in the bathroom (sink, shower) is(are) defunct or improperly maintained. The smell permeates the entire place which is really not that pleasant. The body of a dead bird caught in the net that covers the patio next to the terrace remains to be removed.
8: We found this listing searching places advertised with "parking on premise". Actually, parking here is clearing "off premises" ("somewhere else on a premise" certainly should not be presented as if it was "on the [same] premise"; independent objective estimates for the walking distance are more like 10 minutes than the 5 minutes advertised).
A stay true to the motto: "You promised us an amazing stay - we ended up thoroughly disappointed."