My two friends and I had quite an unpleasant 6-week stay at Karine’s Airbnb. The walls of this apartment are so unbearably thin that we were not allowed to speak, laugh, walk around the home, cook, have work meetings or even shower after 11 pm. Essentially, if you speak anything above a whisper, the neighbours will bang on the walls. For context on how severe the situation was, there were instances where the banging resulted from merely using the washroom or turning on the AC while everyone was already asleep. Twice, the banging ensued at 7:30 AM in the MORNING when we were getting ready for work. One of my roommates works late into the night due to remote work and she couldn't do her meetings without banging on the walls, and this banging was not a light knock, sometimes these men would bang so hard it would shake the floors. We are not the kind of girls to throw parties or whatnot so the noise complaints were prompted by that which arises from the ambience of day-to-day living--something we have little control over.
After the banging at night, we could always expect a long threatening note from the host as the neighbours would contact her to complain. I am not sure entirely why, but it appeared to us that the host thought we were lying about not being as accommodating as we possibly could without going to bed at 11 pm as it was incompatible with our work schedule.
Now, we are not unreasonable people so we went out of our way to accommodate the neighbours, we spoke to the neighbours directly about what we can do and asked the host but no one gave us a proper answer. It got so bad that we had literally tiptoed around the house after 11 and stopped speaking outside of the necessary whisper. We lived in constant fear and anxiety of these grown men who lived by us and as three young girls, we genuinely feared for our safety especially at night when these men would angrily bang on our walls. One of our roommates has severe anxiety and this Airbnb and the host’s threats was the cause of many panic attacks throughout the month.
One should not be running an Airbnb in a place where they are aware of the fragile infrastructure of the building and how sensitive the neighbours are out of respect for both the guest and the neighbours. It is wrong to threaten and blame your guests for something they have no control over and did not sign up for as this disclaimer was not present in the listing.
During our entire stay, Karine’s Airbnb never felt like home because we felt unsafe and on edge anytime we were at the house which Karine made no effort to remedy. We were extremely eager to leave to the point where we were counting down the days. In sum, I would not recommend staying at this Airbnb for longer than a day or two but be aware you will still hear the banging.