There are several fine aspects to Emmanuel’s place: it is centrally located in the prime Mile End area with fantastic restaurants and people watching all around; there is a lovely amount of space in the apartment with wonderful high ceilings; and the decor is visually attractive. A guest could host a dinner in the apartment as there is a full kitchen and a large dining table. It would be satisfactory as a place to crash at night after a busy day. (Although entering the unit at night is not great due to poor lighting.) We did not meet the host, but he is quite responsive by text.
But for me, I disagree with this as a 5 star accommodation. We would recommend:
1. Better attention to detail. This would include removing items left behind by previous guests (shoes, shirts, cosmetics), fixing broken drawers on the dresser, repairing a dripping tap, providing better entrance lighting, fixing a very sticky key, and possibly providing a few minimal breakfast supplies (there was coffee but no milk).
2. Attention to the lack of light. Even for an apartment in this area, there are few windows and it is dark in the day. If there were more lamps, a guest could at least have task lighting without needing the overhead lights on.
3. Air circulation could be much improved by some fans. If the front window is closed, it gets really stuffy, but if the window is open there is quite a lot of street noise.
4. The bathroom has no ventilation, which for an open-shower concept, is quite problematic. There is an unpleasant smell after showering, walls are peeling, and there seems to be some mold or mildew. The toilet needs repair. Until we (temporarily?) fixed it, five(!!!) or more flushes were necessary just for a few squares of toilet paper to disappear. It seemed very ironic to us that, in a LEED Platinum building, we were wasting water and had to keep lights on all day.