Review of Aquino - 50m2, 2 rooms in the heart of Paris
Overall it was a great apartment and a great experience.
Charlotte
Charlotte was very communicative and responded promptly to messages on AirBnB. She works for a property management office that was about a mile from the AirBnB. Our flight arrived early in the morning and we could not get into the apartment until 3, but she was kind enough to offer to let us drop our luggage off there for the day. She sent someone to meet us punctually at 3.
The location
The location was excellent for shopping and museums, in the heart of St Germain, around the corner from Les Deux Magots. It was near two metro lines. It was about 10 minutes’ walk from the Seine and the Louvre. There was a Monoprix supermarket a block away, and a bakery and a cafe with excellent coffee to go on the first floor of the building. The street felt very safe, even returning home late at night.
The apartment
We go to Paris every year at Christmas time, and have stayed in 5 different AirBnBs over the years. This one was by far the most comfortable.
There were two digicode doors to get into the building, which felt very safe. The apartment was up two flights of stairs which made us reasonably quiet, although there was some street noise during the day, which is to be expected in the city.
There is a separate bed room with a bed for two that we found very comfortable, and plenty of shelves and storage. The bedroom is separated by a hallway from the living area, which makes it quieter.
The living room was large by Paris standards. There was a futon couch that would sleep two more people because the ceiling was so high, there space for a small stairway going to a little loft with a single bed. It would easily sleep five so it was lots of space for the two of us. The living room was very comfortable, with lots of light and we spent a lot of time there. There was a fire place, although it was just decorative. Outside the temp was in the 30s but the apartment was warm. The wifi worked well enough to stream a movie one night.
The kitchen was small and modern with a stove, oven, dishwasher and clothes washer. We cooked a meal there at least once a day. There were plenty of dishes and some foodstuffs like salt, oil, tea, and coffee. the separate little dining room had a table that could seat five people with a nice view of a church across the street. There is no clothes dryer but we washed clothes and they were dry the next day.
The bathroom was bright and clean with its own heater. There was a blow dryer. The hot water got plenty hot. Two things were of sight concern there: There were two tall steps to get in and out of the tub, which might be hard for someone older, and the shower head was on a hose, and had no wall mount so you ended up spraying yourself with the shower head by hand. Again, not a big deal, but it seemed like a small thing to add to make things for comfortable.
Overall, we had a good experience with Charlotte, and we would have no problem recommending this place. It was more space than a couple probably needed, but would be perfect for two couples or a small family.