Overall, we had a lovely stay at Francois’ apartment. Pros included a wonderful location near the city center and right next to a metro stop, a large grocery store, and plenty of shops and restaurants. The area felt very safe and the apartment was secure. The apartment is right across the street from the Rhône, which is lovely to walk along at any time of day. Although small, the place worked fine for our month-long stay. We adjusted quickly to the unique layout (bathroom in the entryway with no door). The six flights of extremely steep stairs were tiresome but provided a daily workout, which we appreciated but do not miss.
However, there were some significant drawbacks that resulted in our lower rating. For starters, the bed was broken when we arrived and the problem only continued to get worse throughout our stay, despite trying to keep off of the broken corner. We let Francois know about this when we left, so that may be remedied by the time the next guest arrives. There is wifi provided, but it is not at all reliable unless you are sitting right next to the router. This was not a huge issue for us but would have caused setbacks if we were relying on the internet connection for work, Zoom calls, etc. The final straw that brought us down to three stars was the moisture problem in the apartment. It seems as though there was not enough ventilation, and every few days we would have to open all the windows to air out the space (note that this was in December). If we neglected to do this, we would notice condensation start to form on the walls and the space would become quite humid and smelly. In our last week, all our worst fears were confirmed when we discovered that several surfaces, most notably the wall behind the bed, were covered in black mold. This is undoubtedly what led to the bad smell we’d been noticing and had the effect of making us feel very uncomfortable in our temporary home. We alerted Francois to this issue so we trust it has been taken care of.
Once again, this AirBNB had an ideal location, the host was friendly and accommodating, and it served us well as we explored Lyon. It just had a few problems and might be better suited for a shorter stay.