Michelle's place upon entrance is a trendy, smart, and well decorated gem in The Junction. It is well equipped with several kitchen goods and other necessities from numerous extra towels, blankets, and even toiletries of a varying range. It is a quick trip down from Toronto International as the Bloor stop is a 7 minute taxi ride away from the property and it has easy access point to the Toronto Bay area downtown core.
Our expectations were extremely high since her place is an Airbnb Plus property and this was our first stay at one of these property types on the Airbnb website.
Sadly it fell short of what we expected of the price point and Airbnb Plus qualification. We have come to assume that Airbnb Plus properties are likely awarded this status for being generally clean and offering numerous amenities and little "feel at home" touches which Michelle's property does extremely well. There are amenities galore available to guests.
Why this property only received three stars from us is because it is April in Canada meaning that it's not quite warm and we found that despite turning the thermostat to 20-22 degrees Celsius the apartment was cold throughout our stay and we even cranked it up to 30 degrees with the hope that it would make a change so it is unclear whether it was on or was in working conditions. Furthermore, the fan in the bedroom automatically switched on when we turned the main overhead light on and it took a number of attempts before we managed to turn it off and that was after it spray huge clumps of dust around the room and onto the bed which subsequently left me sneezing and puffy-eyed as I am very sensitive to large amounts of dust in buildings. Things also turned "sour" quite quickly as the WiFi information included in the check-in process on the Airbnb App and in the online house manual had not been updated and we were travelling from abroad so we were not roaming and required internet access to connect with friends who lived locally and it ended up being on the side of the fridge which is quite hidden and in a nondescript guest welcome binder which we did not realise until we contacted Michelle via a long distance phone call. It's understandable that the change to their wireless connection was made a week ago (so claimed Michelle) but this is an Airbnb Plus which is the highest type of Airbnb property and therefore should be a stay that matches and rivals that of a higher quality hotel and it was a frustrating 15 minutes that we spent trying to figure out which internet belonged to the property as the internet information we had been given did not match at all. The fridge in the property was not very clean and you could see that it had only been given a quick wipe down and it didn't smell very fresh at all so it wasn't an inviting place to store groceries. The sugar for the tea had hard chunks from previous guests who had dropped the liquids of their drinks into the sugar pot. The fitted bed sheet kept springing up off the bed while it was being slept on so not sure if it really fit the bed correctly. Shower pressure in the property is quite weak. The host was a bit passive aggressive in her messages towards us regarding the heating when we were making attempts to best warm the place without costing her a pretty penny. Finally, the property smelt quite strongly of wet dog upon entering into it and I think that is something that should be more prominently advertised before booking for those who have allergies since if I could even notice the dog smell of the property then I'm some someone with an allergy would react very strongly and quite immediately to it.
I would recommend staying here if amenities (which are mostly used and are toiletries left behind by previous guests) is most important to you but at the price point Michelle charges you might as well find a hotel closer to the downtown core and pay the difference and you'll know that you're getting great amenities, a sky rise view, and still a lively vibrant neighbourhood experience of sorts.