Carless
TLDR: my entire experience was very poor, from the cleanliness of the apartment to Paul’s communication, and I don’t recommend this spot to anyone. I have airbnb’d in Paris many times. This is the first negative review I have ever left on airbnb and the first one star review I have left in my whole life. I am aware of how it impacts the host, and I mean it. This was really that bad. I am surprised, because most of Paul’s reviews are very positive. Not sure what happened here.
THE PROS:
-Location is good/safe
-Internet is strong
-Paul responds in a timely manner.
DIRECTIONS NOT CLEAR
-How to find the room is not clear. I know this is not just a me problem, because when I followed the direction to the place I thought he meant, there was a sign on the door from the tenant that read “this is NOT AN AIRBNB” which tells me this happens a lot.
-Paul changed the location I was supposed to drop the key off twice, then when I went there the morning of my departure the shop he told me to bring them to was not even open. I had to walk back to the apartment and leave the keys there. Not good when you are trying to catch a train.
VERY SMALL
-I understand the sqft is listed, tat is not the issue. What is not shown in the pics is you have to sit on the toilet sideways because the sink is so close in front of you that your knees hit it (I am 5’9”/170cm). The shower door doesn’t open all the way, so if you aren’t skinny you won’t be able to get in.
LIGHT & NOISE
-The space is on the 1st floor of a very busy street. Most european apartments have exterior metal rolling shutters on the windows to block out noise and light when needed. This space does not, and it is incredibly loud even for a city. The light wouldn’t be an issue if there were curtains, but there is not. There are cheap roller shades that don’t cover the full length of the window (not blinds like in the photos), so the flashing kebab sign across the street shines in all night long and there is nothing you can do about it. You need an eye mask and ear plugs. A very DIY experience.
FURNITURE & DECOR
-For a room less than 200sqft there are so many extension cords everywhere? How? Why? The extension cord draped from the microwave over the vent hood down to the floor is omitted from the pictures.
-The bed is not a murphy like it is in the photos, it is a pull out couch.
-The thing being shown in the pictures as a night stand is actually just a dented shoe rack that is probably propped up on a cardboard box or something for the photo.
-Almost all of the furniture is dented, chipped, bent and damaged. Everything looks like it was acquired for free.
-All the walls have chipped paint, scratches and screw holes. Bare minimum effort everywhere you look.
-The electrical breakers are just out on the wall next to your bed…
VERY DIRTY
-The floor must not have been cleaned in a month. Anything that touched the floor was immediately covered in huge dust bunnies. Hair and toe nails and whatever else. I wore shoes in the apartment for my whole visit.
-Bathroom was poorly cleaned and had hair and bar soap chunks everywhere.
-Bathroom constantly smells like backdraft from the sewer, which usually means you have damage to your pipes. You have to keep the bathroom door shut while you aren't using it to keep the smell out of the apartment.
-There were literally multiple empty cardboard trash boxes laying around…
-A visible layer of dust on the stove top that you could blow…
-The duvet cover doesn’t have a proper close, so the duvet comes out the edges at night, and it is noticeably dirty underneath… stains galore.
-The stairwell leading up to the apartment was so disgusting, it literally had a pile of trash and dust pushed into the corner when you first arrive. Even if it isn’t technically part of your apartment you should pay your cleaner $5 extra to clean it up, that is not a warm welcome at all.
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Again, I am not a difficult person to please at all–I don’t know what happened here because nearly all of Paul’s reviews are very good. But damn, this was a bad time.