We really appreciated the fast response time and overall good communication with Kendall and Olga. The apartment has amazing views and great space for an inner city residence and overall the place was very clean. Two bedrooms are generously sized but the third is quite small and it is almost impossible to lock the shared bathroom. The living room and dining room furniture is very worn and stained and would benefit from updating. Beds were very comfortable and sheets were nice and soft. Kitchen is fairly well stocked and there are some stores nearby for groceries. While being downtown can be convenient to other locations, especially as there is a train station literally next door, you do need to be mindful that this is a seedy part of the city with a great many homeless and drug addicts on the streets. We saw two young girls shooting up in front of the building at 9 am the first morning and there was not a day or time that there were not homeless or seemingly mentally ill persons wandering around. If this makes you uncomfortable this may not be the best location for you. During the day it is a very busy area with lots of people about and we felt perfectly comfortable walking around, but despite the fact that we are from NYC originally, none of us would feel comfortable walking around this neighborhood alone at night. It is also quite noisy being downtown. Thankfully the train is quite subdued compared to other trains, but there is very loud traffic all day/night and even 37 floors up it is a bit much at times. There are sirens wailing at all hours of the night, and while we know this is part of staying downtown, it was a lot more than we've experienced in other big cities. While it is a doorman bulding they sit behind a desk and basically ignore you. Most of them spoke very broken English and weren't particularly helpful when we had questions.
The apt is a short walk to Gastown which is a very nice area that is full of lively restaurants and bars. It is also a very short walk to Chinatown which, unfortunately, seemed to be a gathering place for many of the drug addicts and homeless persons, especially at night. We did an absolutely amazing food tour through Chinatown during the day, that included the history, gardens and some amazing dim sum and it was fabulous, but I wouldn't recommend wandering around this area after dark.
This apt would really benefit from some updating and new furniture. We recognize that it is difficult to find a 3 bedroom/3 bathroom in the inner city, and with three couples we really appreciated the space, but we were disappointed in the furnishings and how shabby the apt felt, and likely would not choose to stay here again. May be perfect for some, but we will seek out another, less noisy and seedy area of the city for our next visit to Vancouver.