The apartment is centrally located in a beautiful area of Prague, with convenient access to several tram lines. The main floor of the apartment is configured like a studio apartment (kitchen and bathroom with a combined bedroom/dining room), and the top floor of the apartment has an additional master bedroom, connected to a small but charming balcony looking up to Strahov monastery.
The owners have clearly invested in some high-end finishings (natural stone counters, fancy faucets, etc.), but there are also signs of neglect. The shade in the master bath couldn’t be lowered, meaning that all the neighbors have a direct view of anyone on the toilet or the bidet. A heater was pulling out of the wall and hanging by remnants of wall anchors. There was a kind of black mold along the bannister. Incidentally, we sent a very polite message to the hosts about this—just in case their cleaning crew hadn’t informed them of the problems—but they didn’t respond.
This brings us to the communication issues. Despite claims in their bio to the contrary, the owners don’t really speak English. I know this because the owners forgot to provide the entry code in their check-in instructions, which resulted in my family standing outside in the rain. Buzzing and messaging on the AirB&B app were ineffective, so I called the hosts, but the host couldn’t understand “the front door is locked”, and she asked me to send an SMS. I did; she must have used a machine translation program; and I got a response. Often the machine translations were unclear or difficult to understand. On the plus side, I had the sense that the hosts tried to accommodate where possible—for example, making sure that we had a child’s crib and the like.
For families with kids, however, it’s not a particularly child-friendly place. The stairs are in the middle of the apartment, so they invite curiosity. However, the twisting staircase is very narrow - with a low ceiling - so it’s hard to help a toddler navigate them. The furniture layout is also little awkward, so there’s no real place to sit and play.
Overall, the stay was adequate. The bed was comfortable; the water was hot; and the apartment was quiet. The mold, the broken shade, and the communication problems did little to diminish our vacation.