I arrived outside the apartment at midnight. .....The lights were off and Jiri was not answering his phone.......... I had been calling him on the way there in the taxi so I asked the taxi driver to stay with me until I was sorted out which he kindly did....................
I was alone in the middle of the night on the side of the road in a strange city, despite having previously ( before paying) checked with Jiri about arriving at such an hour. I felt scared and angry...........
I pressed a random button on the gate. One of Jiri's neighbours came out. He had a different phone number for Jiri. The number Jiri had given me was ringing out. The taxi driver left..........
Jiri did not answer when his neighbour called him. The neighbour was also a licenced taxi driver and he offered to take me to a nearby hotel................ As we were driving to to the hotel, Jiri called his neighbour. His neighbour told him that I had arrived and Jiri told him a code to open a box on the wall that contained the apartment key................. Jiri had not told me about this code in advance, nor mentioned he would not be there. .......................
Based on his past reviews, I assumed he would be a "superhost" and be there or at the very least ensure that I could get in by providing the necessary information beforehand.
Neither of these two things happened. ..................
Had Jiri's neighbour not come out of his apartment and helped me, I would not have been able to get in at all and would have had to source alternative accommodation, despite having paid for the apartment in full................ as I did not even have a workable phone number for Jiri...............
Jiri called me the next day and said "it is good we get over our misunderstanding" I told him that there wasn't a misunderstanding, that I felt scared and angry alone on the side of the road in a foreign city at midnight. I also told him that I was not given the necessary code. On my side, there was no misunderstanding..... He said he had no idea how that happened and that he was on holidays in France (!!!) and would call me on his return. ................
I stayed for 2 weeks. Jiri never called again. We never met. No one else called from his family/organisation either.
I do not know who all the people leaving 5 star reviews are, particularly the people who say he is a great and helpful host. I never met him.....................
Jiri runs an impersonal business, unfortunately and nothing more.