Generally, we enjoyed our stay in Paris. That said, the poor communication from the host really affected our stay.
First, we tried to move our check-in date a day later (the airline changed our flight). We contacted the host before the cancellation date to ask for the modification. The host only responded after we had passed the cancellation date and refused to change our reservation. Their response: "I'm sorry, I'm on holiday and checked my msg less than usually. I can't now afford to loose 170€, sorry about that.."
We ended up paying for a day when we weren't in Paris. Had we known, we would have canceled the stay before the cancellation date and booked elsewhere.
Then we had to wait outside the apartment to check in, although we were clear on the time and date we were arriving in Paris. There's no self-check-in as advertised. A neighbour had to come open the door.
We also contacted the host a few times during our stay (i.e. shower drain not draining) and only received an answer the day before we left. The host told us they were on vacation and didn't connect to Airbnb often. They told us it would be better to contact them via text outside of the Airbnb app (yet, they didn't specify their phone number).
Being on vacation is not a reason to be unresponsive. These are our vacation times, and we also expect better service when renting a place.