I’ve used Airbnb since the early days and this is literally the first negative review I’ve given. This place, while great looking in the pics was a rough stay for us. I never expect perfection as Airbnb’s are typically someone’s home, not a 5-star hotel. However the reality of this unit is below expectations. It’s for sure purpose built for short-term stays, and thus my acceptance margins aren’t as wide as they might be for non-professional Airbnb homes. Here’s the nitty gritty. And in some cases I really mean “gritty”:
Pros:
- Overall solid location and great access to the major attractions
- Finish on the unit is contemporary and pretty tightly done. Can tell thought and care went into design and much of the execution.
- Kitchen is beautiful. Period. Well done.
Cons:
- Upon entry, carpet is filthy, stained, spotted etc.
- Couch is also stained all over, and downright gross.
- Bloody fingerprint on the wall. Yup.
- Soaking wet towel sitting on top of washing machine presumably with a blood spot. Putting two and two together, perhaps a cleaning person cut him or herself, and didn’t fully tidy up after? Regardless, this is pretty gross and between the blood and the filth, if we could have checked out immediately and not lost our entire payment, we probably would have. We elected to flip the carpet and have the scratchy side up, and covered the couch with towels, but this is absolutely inexcusable given the premium nature of the unit.
- The unit isn’t next to a mall, it literally is on the mall. It’s an old converted storefront. Charming in that regard, but the main door opens right up to a lot of pedestrian traffic and people look immediately inside. If you’re ok with that, or perhaps an exhibitionist, then you’re fine. When mall is closed and quiet it’s much better. To create some humor and make do with the filth and blood, we jokingly started calling it the murder house inside the zombie mall. At least we could laugh or way through it.
- The unit itself is extremely vertical. Not a lot of square footage spread over 5 very small floors and a loft bed on the top floor. So almost 6 stories total. According stairs are steep and tight. If you’re tall like me, you will also be ducking your head on some of the stair cases.
- Basement room has the largest bed and ostensibly serves as the primary bedroom. It’s like a cave. Not bad actually but zero windows and it smells of mildew on occasion, likely because shower leaks and floor doesn’t dry because of humidity. So you burn through towels mopping floor after every shower.
- Noise. Pretty loud starting at just after 6am every day the mall is open. You hear everything from shopkeepers opening their doors, to loud clacking of heels, some light construction across the way, and more. So bedrooms with windows (none are sound sealed) for sure get lots of noise, and even basement room sounds like people in heels are walking over your head.
- Finally, hot water is a problem. One long shower and that’s that. Or two short showers. If you have three people or more, you will need to spread showers out for hot water to work again.
With apologies to the owner, we know you put real care into the design and execution of this place. Unfortunately I think either your management company failed on many levels, or worse you were too cheap to replace an already cheap rug and reupholster your couch, or simply replace it. I simply cannot in good faith give this unit a positive review given our experience. I hope you can make the necessary changes and create a beautiful experience for future guests.