Stayed 2 weeks at Peter’s place due to the look of the apartment and the low rental cost . Apartment is spacious, well-furnished, sunny, and comfortable, with good views. Check-in was in person and smooth. Peter is a very attentive, caring, responsive host, who was kind enough to give me a late checkout since I had a late night flight.
There were a couple of minor issues of which I apprised Peter:
1)The lighting in the bathroom over the sink was too dim so you could not see yourself very well in the mirror;
2)The bathroom sink was clogged and drained very slowly;
3)The microwave is on a six foot shelf on top of the refrigerator, making it extremely difficult to use without using a chair, with the risk of someone falling off it at some point;
4)One window does not have a curtain so the light comes in the morning because the shade does not cover the whole window, making it difficult to sleep without a sleep mask.
Peter said he would address those issues.
There were other minor issues which are beyond Peter’s ability to address:
1) There is no English language news channels such as CNN or BBC because the building does not have cable;
2)Due to the position of the TV, in the daytime with the shades up the sunlight makes it difficult to watch the TV;
3)There is a street market by the building which starts getting ready at about 7 AM and is noisy, and then about 9 AM a store starts making very loud sales pitches over a loudspeaker which can be heard from the apartment;
4)The elevators were under constant maintenance, with only two of the four functioning at any one time, and there were occasional long wait times for the elevators;
5)When people are talking in the hallway you can hear them;
6)Shower is adequate but due to shower water being heated by a local electric heater and not a central water heater, you cannot get a strong, hot shower, but have to trade off water volume for water temperature.
These issues did not materially affect my stay and should not affect other guest’s stays. The most serious issue is the apartment’s location. It is in a building located in Centro, 4 blocks from the Metro Uruguaiana station and 3 blocks from the VLT station. Although Peter does says in the listing that while in the daytime on weekdays and until Noon on Saturdays the area is very crowded because of the shops that are open, after they close and the whole day Sunday, the area is empty, I was surprised and concerned with just how deserted and unsafe the area is, especially late at night and on Sunday with literally no one on the street for the 3 or 4 blocks leading to the building, and thus a high risk of getting mugged. Why previous guests have failed to point this out in their reviews is beyond me.
I strongly advise potential guests (especially single women, who perhaps shouldn’t stay here at all due to safety concerns) to follow the advice Peter gave me: use Uber to get you to and from the building when the shops are closed. Do not attempt to walk the 3 or 4 blocks leading to the building to save a few bucks. You should add the cost of at least a couple of Uber rides per day to get the total cost of your stay at the apartment.