We were never able to stay at the location (we ended up being stranded on the streets of Paris in the middle of the night) because Marc left the city and provided no late evening options to check in despite the rental information saying “check in after 3.” He suggested we stay in a hotel far away from the central location we were expecting and said via WhatsApp “call them - if you wait there will be no more available”. How about leaving the keys and instructions somewhere accessbile like was done for me two days later in London? Or when I stayed in Rome? Or the countless places that I stay in the U.S.? The location is right next to a Marriott! One idea to make things work is to give the concierge the keys and have me pay him 20 euro to get them! There were endless ways this could have been handled so we could have had a nice stay.
I was contacted by Marc via WhatsApp the day of arrival (which is not the method of contact I would have expected - email, phone, or text are communication mechanisms I monitor far more frequently but I digress) asking what time I’d check in. I was en route so I didn’t see that information. Marc did follow up via phone at 8:30 where we spoke for a moment. Sadly, my flight was severely delayed so I didn’t arrive until 10:30pm which I indicated during our conversation. I apologized and it was clear Marc was put off but he said “OK” when I described what time I would arrive, that I would contact him as soon as I landed, and that I would try to make things work.
After getting back in contact via WhatsApp when my flight landed (I tried to call and text several times with no response) I received the following texts (my assessment)
-I called AirBnB and they should have called you (AirBnB didn’t have any record, fined Marc, and refunded me).
-I told you it was too late (that was the first time he told me any such thing)
-Not possible to give you keys (see suggestion above, the London flat I subsequently stayed in had an agreement with a convenince store to give keys)
In summary, I am upset because I only had a few days in Paris and I spent many hours moving between hotels, seeking support from AirBnB (who was incredbly helpful), and subsequently taking time to show what transpired via this review. Readers, I hope your experience is better than mine.