DON’T STAY HERE
If you are fine in a tiny and VERY run-down student dorm-like situation, you might be ok.
BUT if you usually book based on pictures and description as we did and you’re expecting a clean, simplistic yet nice and well kept place: you will be very disappointed.
There is such a huge difference between pictures and reality that photoshop comes to mind and I am starting to doubt the recommendations. Since you can’t post photos in a review, here’s what to expect:
Sofa, rug, table, pillows and cute suitcase-coffee table in the living room are gone.
Replaced with an old chipped bench and table and a different sofa. One of the chairs is left, literally about to collapse.
The green armchair from the pics has one arm and side dangling lose about to break off.
There is now an old billy shelf filled with paper trash and a package of ant traps.
Bedside lamps are gone as well, replaced by some crappy old floor lamps. In both rooms, big loud ventilators are ploughing away. Their tubes going out through the window, attached by tape and pieces of old cardboard/wood in the window frames.
The bathroom is grimy turning yellow in a lot of places. The bathtub had a yellow dirt trace. First thing we did on arrival: repair the flush. And there they are, you guessed it: ants!
The kitchen is old and grimy and most of the equipment in the pictures missing.
The whole apartment has at some point been painted over with the same white wallpaint, covering cupboards, shelves, doors, light switches…
That paint is now dirty and flaking off in every room. There also seem to be some wet wall spots around the windows.
There’s cables everywhere, lose on the ground and attached to many of the walls. Plugs are loosely dangling out of the wall. That’s actual security issue.
The apartment is on the 3rd floor of a pretty old concrete block. Check it out on google maps! It’s the crappy one next to the nicer buildings. The other apartments seem to host students and probably other airbnbs. The hall and elevator are dirty and a little run down.
I have happily stayed in airbnbs for 8 years now. This is the first time I complained to airbnb.
We heard ridiculous excuses: the furniture had to be replaced because it was broken (except it was replaced with broken furniture). The super fun designer hosts were „surprised“ by how much worse the place looked since being „renovated“ (we send them pictures and no, this place has never been renovated except for the wall paint on everything and maybe the floor boards that have inch wide cracks).
As a solution, we were offered to… well, leave after one free night, and find another place the next day. This isn’t possible in Montreal, there were about 4 apartments left at this point that would have cost us about 400,- additional dollars.
In the end, we sent the pictures to Airbnb help center and the hosts ended up paying us a refund for the stay (because we asked for it). Still, this was no place no feel relaxed and cozy.
I do not recommend this place