We had a difficult stay.
First, we thought we could check in early because our flight arrived very early in the morning. We exchanged many messages with the owner's agent and were told by the agent two days before our arrival, "You will receive access at 18 h today" -- that is, the day preceding our arrival. Great, we thought, problem solved.
But apparently access does not equal check-in. We could not enter the building, let alone the apartment. We called the owner's agent and he was rude tone and off putting. There was no effort to empathize with our situation. We contacted AirBnB directly but they backed the owner, saying the miscommunication was simply unfortunate.
We eventually entered the property at the normal check-in time and the cleaning person was very pleasant. We hoped our stay would get better at that point.
The apartment is in a good location and has some nice features. Perhaps due to a lot of bookings, there is wear and tear that we made the owner aware of in private communication after our 2-day stay. Things like a smelly refrigerator, a bathroom door that was difficult to open and close, a shower door seal that has failed and leaks a lot of water onto the bathroom floor, and a curtain that does not close because the rail is coming loose in the ceiling.
Finally, the building stairs from the lobby to the upper floors are poorly lit, and the last stair that enters the lobby abuts the lobby door. IOW, you have to open the door before stepping on or off the last step. There are no warning signs when descending, just darkness. As a result, a family member fell and sprained an ankle due to this poor design. The lighting in the stairwell should not be optional and this odd stair step really needs to be noted in the manual to protect customers from getting hurt.
I expect an unapologetic response from the owner and AirBnB to this review, because that's what we got in private. I will say this: We have been loyal AirBnB users since AirBnB started, but on our next trip AirBnB will not be our first choice.