Marion’s house is in a lovely location, just two blocks from a wonderful cheese shop, pastries, fruits, and the Metro (Jasmin station, line 9). The house itself is airy, sunny, and comfortably furnished. There is a charming front yard with table. There is a very effective and quiet air conditioning in the two bedrooms. And when I arrived at 10 PM (my flight was delayed), Marion hired Angelique to meet me, explain the two sets of codes, and show me around the house. And Angelique persuaded the pizzeria two doors down to make a list-minute pizza before they closed. So far, everything was 5 stars
So what’s the catch? The issue is that no one seems to have lived there. Too many of the little things were wrong. There were just two dry towels. All the rest were wet in the downstairs dryer, which didn’t seem to work. The tea kettle was broken. There was no soap in the downstairs bathroom. We had to unload the dishwasher (which was full of clean dishes). There was a paper towel rolls with just two sheets left in the kitchen. There were tea bags but no coffee capsules for the Nespresso machine. Lucite shelving in master bathroom was covered in dust. The bed frame was broken, literally snapped wood. Took me a while to figure out it wasn’t just a lumpy mattress. Wish I could say that it was my wild activities that led to this. Airbnbn only allows photos when the review is 4 or 5 stars, so I can't add the photo.
When I wrote to her, Marion wrote back saying that we were renting an Airbnb, not staying in a hotel 5 etoiles. Okay, so maybe I’m being grumpy about the Nespresso capsules. In any case, what is wrong about the place could be easily fixed. I hope that happens and then Marion will have a true 5 etoiles place.