This apartment, though well situated and basically nice, was a total disaster because of the agency, Checkmyguest, who manages it. The list of things that went wrong is very long and I would discourage anyone from renting not only this apartment but ANY apartment that they manage. So, first of all, the one key they provided was very difficult to use to open the door. Then, when I finally got into the apartment, there were no lights at all in the living room. When I contacted them they insisted I must be missing the light switch, as if I’m a total idiot. After I sent them pictures showing the switch, they directed me to the circuit breaker box, located very high up over am the front door. I had to stand on a wobbly chair to reach it and still could only reach it to flip the circuit breaker with a hanger. I tried to be nice about it but it was a bit dangerous. Then I saw that there was no manual to explain the various appliances in the apartment. All they give you is a WiFi code and directions to a bakery. I have lived in France many years, so I had an advantage with the appliances that most foreign travelers wouldn’t have, and I still could not make sense of the heating, the cable TV, the stove, or the bathtub. As it turns out, they had put some non-induction pots and pans in the kitchen which absolutely will not work with an induction stove. We thought the stove was broken until we finally tried all the pits and found one that worked. For some reason, only scalding hot water comes out of the bath faucet. We tried everything, as I have a bad back and purposely rented a place with a bathtub so I could soak. The Cable tv never worked and there were no instructions for that, either, so we had no TV the entire time. We even changed the batteries in the remotes, but the cable remote is clearly broken.
So I messaged the agency through Airbnb about all of these issues abs got a one line reply back saying “ we will send a technician who will address all of these issues. That afternoon, while I was out, a man came and left because my 85 year old mother was afraid to let him in. He could not speak English and could not explain to her why he was there and she was frightened. Did they expect me to just stay home all day, not knowing when he would show up? I wrote to them and asked if they would please contact me to make an appointment with him at a specific time but they never responded and he never came back. I was there for 6 days with no TV, no bath, no way to adjust heating, some of which appeared to be pre-programmed, with a key that barely worked. They blamed me for not being there when the man came even though they gave me no timeframe for his arrival and made no attempt to reschedule even though we still had five days left in the apartment. Then they tried to blame their cleaning lady, which was absurd since none of the issues had to do with her. They are terrible communicators and didn’t seem to even understand when I was leaving, as they finally offered to send someone over the day we checked out.
To make matters worse, the apartment is extremely noisy. The whole first day there was construction noise just under us from 7 am to 6 pm. I knew being right on St Germain might be a bit noisy, and I was prepared, but on the Saturday night we were there, the cafe downstairs played loud music and had loud drunken singing and booming bass sound until 5 am!!! I think someone finally called the police. I have rented many Airbnb apartments all over the world, and frequently in Paris as I often teach there. I have never had such a horrible experience, and this apartment is not cheap. I have only left one slightly negative review once about 5 years ago - in general I am patient and understanding and have a great relationship with my hosts. I hope Airbnb blocks this agency from ever renting through them again, and I would strongly discourage anyone from renting this apartment or any apartment that is managed by Checkmyguest. My French friends who live in Paris and came to visit could not believe how badly we were treated. So, buyer beware! This is not a good agency to deal with.