I did a LOT of research ahead of our trip to Paris and found what I thought would be the perfect flat for our week in the St. Germain, my favorite area to stay for over the past 25 years. The flat was listed as an AirBNB Plus property (personally inspected by AirBNB, upgraded amenities, cleanliness, etc.) and the host was a verified “Super Host”. The location couldn’t have been better, absolutely ideal; however, we encountered some hurdles that will make me question future “AirBNB Plus” listings...
Upon arrival, we discovered unfinished food in the refrigerator along with half finished bottles of water and a freezer that was completely frozen in ice due to the door not being properly closed. I reached out to our contact and was told to “just use the big kitchen knife” to break through the ice; otherwise, just go to the brasserie on the corner and ask them for ice (I had shared that I just wanted to be able to put a bag of ice in the freezer).
We were disturbed to find the white slipcover on the living room sofa to be heavily stained, and then also found the bedroom pillowcases to be stained as well - again, unnerving for an “AirBNB Plus” property. After searching, we realized that there wasn’t a single trash can in the entire flat - kitchen or bathroom. Upon asking, we were told that there were trash bags under the sink that we could use, or to use our shopping bags (which I had mentioned to the host as an alternative at the time).
The location and style of the flat was great, but for $3700 for the week, we were really disappointed. The pictures online looked great, but as they always say, don’t trust what you see online. The bed was a full sized bed (extremely small for two people). As a result of the tight bed, one of us had to sleep on the pullout sofa for the week in the second room that was incredibly uncomfortable. It actually didn’t fully open without grossly scraping the built-in cabinets in front of it. There are other shortcomings of this property that I’m not going to list, but “lesson learned”, just be sure to ask a lot of questions before booking.
We enjoyed our week in Paris (we were there for a wedding), but I will definitely second guess any future “AirBNB Plus” property. If this property was an example of their upper tier property listings, I’m maybe going to pass next time. We paid a lot for a very underwhelming experience...