Our stay at Mike´s apartment was a most disappointing experience and we were glad when we left it.
While the initial correspondence with the host was efficient and the "maid" was there to open the door and show us around, there was no welcome information (maps, suggestions as found in many other Airbnb locations). Instead we had to climb 4 floors up a steep staircase, which was quite strenuous with 2 suitcases of app. 20 kg each. The apartment had a strong smell (better: odor) of mothballs (hanging in a container in the host´s packed cabinet. We could only take the basics out of the suitcases, because the host had left no room in his cabinet and only 2 hangers which we hung from door frames (!).
The most remarkable item about the apartment is the lack of warm water in the kitchen and bathroom sinks (the hot water heater only connects to the shower). That means guests have to clean their teeth and wash their hands and the dishes with could water or do all those activities in the shower or boil up water (like camping). The host (wrongfully) argued that older Hong Kong apartment do not have hot running water, which is untrue . "Typical" for the condition of the apartment was the toothbrush which Mike placed next to kitchen sink and the dishwash soap, clearly indicating that he either does not want to invest in a cheap plastic regular dish brush, or considers his guests to be unfamiliar with hygienic dishwashing procedures.
The furniture and "stuff" lying around is hard to judge. Generally speaking, we felt thrown back into a time capsule of a bachelor´s pad or fraternity room in the ´70s - a mixture of "Star Treck" memorabilia, a plastic sword, college coffee cups.
The last item which annoyed us was the lack of an outside door knob. Unlike other doors in Hong Kong, this apartment only had a lock. So when leaving the apartment we had to stick in the key, pull the doors towards us with the inserted key and then quickly turn the key hoping it would lock. In the beginning this exercise took between 5 to minutes to get used to why the host is unwilling or unable to provide his guests with the ease and courtesy of an inexpensive door knob, remains a mystery to us.
The positive part of the place is the location at Times Square.
However considering the fact that for the same price (EUR 85), you can get clean hotel room with hot and cold water, sufficient storage space to hang your clothes, a doors which can easily be shut and spare you the steep climb up 4 floors, I consider Mike´s place overpriced. In summary, we were extremely unhappy and wanted to move out had we not paid in advance. It would be sad and certainly not true if first time visitors to Hong Kong who may follow us consider this place typical HK living.