Horrible Experience !!
Firstly, I contacted Charles on Airbnb before our arrival to set up dropping off our bags early and being able to leave them in our room after the checkout until just before our flights because the check in and check out times didn't correspond to our flight itinerary. We conversed on WhatsApp and I was told it would be fine that I could get the key out of the key box and leave the bags, to put back the key for the cleaning lady and we could then only return at check in time.
Upon arrival to the Airbnb location, we had a very hard time to leave our bags in the apartment, there was no key in the box, I knocked many times on the door, I could hear a woman talking on he phone but she never answered the door, it was 36 degrees in Paris and we had to carry all of our luggage up 3 flights of stairs. After knocking 10 times a very unpleasant and bothered cleaning lady answered, I told her Charles had said we could drop off our bags early. She then stood there watching us annoyed, wanting us to leave, I guess to finish her conversation in peace. I told her ok, I just want to drop the last bag and we are leaving.
We waited until check in time to return to the Airbnb, I had sent a message to Charles about the wifi internet by text message, called him and left him a voicemail because the wifi access he gave me was not correct. He responded a few hours later by text saying he hadn't seen my texts, or calls, that I should have sent him a message through the Airbnb site. How can I send a message through the site or app if I didn't have internet?? and before our arrival conversing was ok with Whatsapp but now messages are apparently only seen via the site!
Furthermore, I don't know what the cleaning lady was cleaning because the place was dirty. The bottom of the front door was dirty, the bathroom was dirty, there was hair on the shelving unit in the bathroom, brown smudges on the bathroom door. The sink was broken and reglued but the sink didn't drain well at all and the water would accumulate in the sink and start leaking out the side of the sink that was broken off and been reglued. I had to mop up water every time I tried to wash my hands or brush my teeth.
There was a long black hair in the bed and yellow/brownish drops, I don't even think the cleaning lady had changed the sheets. And no it wasn't my hair, I have very long light blond hair so it definitely wasn't mine and my boyfriend ( now fiancé) had short brown hair.
The other thing about the bed is it fell appart when we went to lie on it, when we removed the mattress we noticed that the wood slates slid out of place just by touching them and that there were slates missing and certain slates were angled to try to compensate for the lack of support, so someone knew the bed frame was broken to have angled them that way. ( I have many pictures to prove it!)
The hallways were also dirty and dangerous at night, the sensor lights didn't come on many times and we could have fallen down the 3 flights of stairs, we tried to use our cellphone flashlights to help us navigate down the stairs without falling.
All of this really took away from what was a very special time for me and my boyfriend, he surprised me with a proposal in front of the Eiffel Tower. My boyfriend was very disappointed with the Airbnb, he wanted it to be a special time for us. We basically stayed out as mush as we could despite the 36 degree weather to be in the Airbnb as little as possible. I didn't contact Charles for all the other things because he made it clear through his lack of communication, wrong information sent and by knowing I had no internet to contact him through the site and the issue with the bags that had previously been arranged before our arrival. Oh and before our departure after the wifi was working I received a message from Charles stating we had to check out at 11 am and no mention of being able to leave our bags until our flight as conveyed. So we paid another place to hold our luggage until we went to the airport. I would never stay at this Airbnb again. The only positive was the air conditioning!
I know this host has many appartements he is renting on Airbnb in the same building, but I hope this host will take better care of his guests in the future and stop treating them as a transaction. We are more than simply a number figure, we worked very hard to plan, organize and pay for this trip and his lack of interest in providing appropriate accommodation for the price he charges is unfair.