This was one of the worst experiences at an Airbnb for us. There were only two positive aspects we would highlight: first, the location of the apartment, which was simply perfect; second, the bed, which was pretty comfortable for an Airbnb.
However, the following are all the negative aspects that made an overall bad experience:
1. When we arrived to the apartment, the woman who received us told us that the last guests had not returned their keys yet. Therefore, they could enter our apartment any time! We were of course pretty scared to leave our things inside the apartment as the previous guests could easily enter.
2. But that was not all, not only they hadn’t returned the keys, but also they had left ALL their belongings inside the apartment: suitcases, clothes, bags, computers... We were therefore SHARING the apartment for a while with other people. Zero safety and zero privacy. The woman who opened the apartment to us, however, took all their belongings to a safe place. Yet, they still had the key, so they still could enter the apartment anytime.
3. We are unsure about this, but we had the feeling that the spoons they left for tee and coffee were used and not clean.
4. There were two toilets in the apartment, but one of them had a horrible smell. We basically had to close it so that all the house didn’t smell.
5. The entrance to the building also needs to be mentioned. There were stairs going to a some sort of basement, and when we turned our phone lanterns on, we could see what looked like used clothes and mattresses, as if someone lived there. Also, to get to the apartment, you had to walk all the way on a long corridor with quite some stairs. Not a problem for us, but important to note.
6. The woman who showed the apartment to us mentioned that there was a kitchen somewhere in the building to be used, but she didn’t tell us where it was, so basically we didn’t go there. During our other Airbnb experiences, we had a tour all across the facilities, so that also negatively surprised us.
7. One of the worst things: you can hear EVERYTHING. At 4-5am we started hearing a lot of noises, from people moving with suitcases or getting ready. Probably the other guests in the room next to ours, but it made us wake up in the middle of the night.
As a summary, we would never recommend this Airbnb to our friends, family or to anyone staying in Brussels. We felt really unsafe to know that other people had the keys to our apartment, that they had left all of their belongings there, and that we couldn’t leave ours (including camera or computers) in case they wanted to enter. The solution by the host was just to remove their belongings, but that didn’t help as we still felt unsafe.