There were many issues the night we arrived and we immediately advised the host. We would have complained to AirBnb on Night 1, requested a full refund from airbnb and left immediately, however Paris Fashion Week had just started and there was nothing left for less than €7000+ for 28 nights - so we stayed. Issues continued. The host Cedric said in writing he’d take money off the stay. At the end of the stay he refused to do so and even said he’d given us a discount already and despite multiple photos, queried our honesty. The story behind ‘the discount’? We made an enquiry about availability, he responded ‘yes’ and the very next day we went to book our dates and the price had gone up - a lot. Upon request he honoured the original price.
Firstly, the good things. The wifi is excellent and the provided bed sheets, pillows, quilt were clean and fresh,
There are (almost) too many bad things to mention which you need to consider before paying to stay here.
The bad things:
1 - the entrance and common stairwell
2 - the condition of the apartment
3 - the apartment was not clean
4 - and the amenities not working or not provided.
1 - Common Area - Cigarette butts, ash, matches often in stairwell. One of the apartments leaves a large bag of trash outside their door every week or so. Also, there are big holes in the wall in the building entrance which we saw when we first arrived. The main problem with the stairwell is it smells of urine (sometimes worse…) on the walk up to level 1. The smell lasts until at least level 2 - it is worse on wet days. The host can’t be responsible for people or animals urinating in the stairwell or the smell coming out of an apartment - but it is a massive negative.
2 - Apartment condition
Furniture
The large white sofa which is featured in the photos in ‘moody’ lighting is very deteriorated. The white ‘leather’ is flaking off all over the sofa and causes constant sweeping to be necessary. It is comfy - but run down and messy.
TV - On night 1 we found the large TV could not be used - for our whole 28 day stay. We followed the instructions with which button to push on the side to turn it on. This did not work and we finally found another button under the screen was switched off. Once the TV was ‘on’ we found dead batteries in one remote control and no batteries in other. We finally found 2 batteries hidden in the kitchen however once the tv was on we could not connect to the set top box at all - ‘Signal absent, verifiez Le cable’. So the TV is for decorative purposes only. No help from host.
Shower -The shower door was broken at the top when we used it for the first time. It seemed too fragile to continue using it as we did not want the bottom part to break during our stay. We had to shower with the door open for the rest of our 4 week stay.
Leaking/deteriorated bathroom next to washing machine. Once we finished cleaning up the laundry detergent mess (see below), we used the bucket to collect the constant drip from the hot water tank. The wall of the bathroom was smelly and peeling away in chunks from wetness caused by this drip. It is also dangerous as it is falling onto electrical cables next to the washing machine. This leaking hot water tank was already taped up and has obviously been a problem for a long time. The wall plaster was already falling off in chunks and had obviously been a problem for a long time.
3 - Apartment not clean
The shower was was dirty. Dust and body hair all around the exterior base and red dirt / mould around the inside base of the shower. The grout is yellow and / or red and mouldy. The shower did not drain well, but it worked. We pulled a handful of hair out of the drain early in the stay which improved the drainage a little. A few nights before we left the shower stopped draining altogether. We had to investigate and it nearly made us sick. It was disgusting. The build up of black scum and muck under the shower ‘plug’ was about 2 cm thick and the drain was clogged with masses of black hair. Not ours as we had only washed our hair once each… and our hair is not black. It took at least 30 minutes of pulling hair up and cleaning. No guest is bothered clearing their own hair - but accumulated scum, hair and muck from every other guest ever… is unacceptable.
The apartment floor was not very clean and needed a good sweeping the day after we arrived. We swept it every day of our stay (sometimes twice) as it gets very dusty in here - we don’t know why, but the bits of ‘leather’ falling off the sofa make it worse.
4 - Missing or non-working Amenities
All reported to host - nothing done - said he’d take money off the stay and then refused to do so.
Coffee machine - On night 1 when we went to make coffee, there was no tea or coffee and the coffee machine did not work. There was no boiler/kettle. We had to buy a kettle and instant coffee. (If you actually stay… please enjoy the use of our kettle - we wish we’d left it on the street after the treatment we received from this host).
Bathroom toiletries - There were 2 empty bottles in the bathroom and so no bathroom toiletries (a listed amenity).
Toilet paper - There was only 1 and a half rolls of toilet paper.
Cooking oil - There was an empty bottle of olive oil -