The good
The apartment is near Eiffel towers. We ended up going to the towers several times due to its proximity. The apartment is on the top floor and the elevator, though small, was a big boon. The place is well furnished and does not feel small at all. We are a family of four (with two teenage boys) and the apartment had enough room for all of us.
The Bad
We were in Paris during the first week of August and the temperatures were hovering around 95oF. Since the apartment is on the top floor it got really hot. Like many other apartments in Paris it does not have an AC or a fan. Given the heatwave in Paris I had reached out to Kevin for a fan prior to our arrival. Kevin did provide the fan but could only get it to us the next day. We did miss out on good night sleep on the first night. However, the next night was much more comfortable. Now that the apartment has a table fan I would think this should be a non-issue going forward.
Also, another issue – or perhaps a feature, depending on your perspective, there are no blinds on the windows. This was an issue for us - during changing, and when we wanted to sleep late into the morning.
The Ugly
Kevin and the cleaning guy found some marks on the kitchen countertops after we checked out. Kevin reached out to me asking to explain the "scratches". We were doing an excursion that afternoon and happened to be in Paris. I cut short my excursion and headed back to the apartment. The marks were indeed there, however, after applying soap water the marks came off. Not sure how the marks came to be but was glad I was able to get them off with soap water. Had I not been able to visit the apartment - I would have had a claim of two counter tops against me. The cleaning guy apologized for the mis-understanding and I rushed out to catch my flight (which I narrowly made).
The ugly part of all this is that Kevin still went ahead with a claim against me through AirBnb though all of this was clarified/cleaned. I found out about the claim two days after we left and it did give me a negative feeling as we visited other places on our vacation. I have declined to pay Kevin, however, there needs to be a better system to protect both the guest and the host. From now on I am taking pictures before and after I have rented an apartment, an unfortunate lesson learned.