Although the location of this place was ideal for our needs, (right in the middle of Downtown TO), we felt we needed to be honest about the issues we had with this Airbnb for the benefit of potential future guests.
Before arriving we were told in the check in instructions NOT to mention we were staying at an Airbnb to the security at the front desk. As other regular users of Airbnb may appreciate, this kind of thing can happen from time to time, but it doesn’t make for the most welcoming start to the stay. If the building’s rules prevent short-term lets then we would prefer to know about this when booking so we can stay somewhere else.
Secondly, this place is tiny. We were two adults and one infant, and it felt very cramped. It was also quite stuffy and humid in the apartment, but we couldn’t change the temperature or the AC as the thermostat was locked inside a plastic box on the wall (!). The noise from the AC prevented us from sleeping as it was set too high.
During our stay there was also a flood in one of the apartments on the upper floors of the building which caused the fire alarm to go off on our floor regularly until heading towards midnight. Although this wasn’t the host’s fault and he did respond when we contacted him about it, the alarm continued to sound and we overheard maintenance staff in the hallway saying they had disconnected the fire alarms on the floor we were on and the one above. At this point we felt our safety could not be guaranteed and we ended up speaking to Airbnb customer support, who cancelled the reservation and issued a refund. Airbnb told us that when they reached out to the host about a cancellation and refund, he did not respond to them. As a result of the issue we actually missed the event we travelled to the city for, which was a real disappointment.