The pro’s first: The apartment is newly renovated and close to old town. The building itself, although historic, can at best be called ‘shabby chic’, or just plain dilapidated, but that is not unusual in parts of Vienna. The apartment is furnished in the most minimalistic and economical style available at a certain Swedish furniture retailer. Nevertheless, the stay could have been reasonably enjoyable. Alas, it was not.
Upon arrival (Sunday), we were informed that guests had broken the sink in the half bathroom (the drainpipe was missing). Soaking wet bedsheets were on a drying rack in the hallway, and the floor was flooded. Most of the towels were wet in the dryer and were still wet two days later as the dryer was clearly not working. The two single beds in the third bedroom had lattices that were too small for the bedframes and had clearly failed to work many times before, as they were ‘fixed’ with duct tape in several spots, rendering bedroom three unusable.
Now down to one out of two bathrooms and two out of three bedrooms, things got worse. There was no hot water. The host first said that this may have been caused by a storm a day earlier and could not be fixed during our stay, only to later and after our departure claim that it was an ‘easy fix’. A handyman reattached the drainpipe on Monday and used some screws to attach the lattices to the bedframe, which did not render the contraption more trustworthy. To top things off, the dishwasher overflowed on the morning of our departure, now adding a flooded and soapy kitchen floor to the overall experience.
The host did respond to our – repeated and urgent – requests and complaints in a polite and timely fashion. However, given the grave problems we encountered, a ‘super host’ would either be there in person, with a blue overall and toolbox in hand, to fix things himself, or offer and unconditional full refund by himself. We felt that the host was instead trying to explain rudimentary fixes as ‘problems solved’, major issues as force majeure, and full refunds only warranted when guests demand and insist.