This was by far the worst Airbnb we stayed at. I want to be honest and give an honest review so other future renters are aware. There were some pros and quite a bit of cons. I will start with the pros:
1. Location- it's a very good location in 14th district of Paris. The Catacombs are 7 minute walk, the Luxemburg Gardens are 22min walk, there is a park, about 3 min walk, that is great if you have kids. Lots of kids here in the later part of the day, various ages. My son played basketball with local kids almost daily here. The street itself is very cute, lots of shops, cafes, reaturants, you name it you have it.
2. Lidl's grocery store is not too fat, about 10 min walk. Everything is cheaper here. If you are staying an extended period like we did and need groceries on the regular, I would definitely recommend this store.
3. Two bathrooms
4. Good hot water pressure
5. Dishwasher
6. Host replies quickly to messages
7. Cheap- based on Paris standards this place was very affordable
Cons:
1. Filthy- this was my biggest thing. I could have got passed the other issues if the place was at least clean. The bathroom was dirty, tub has mold in it. The toilet leaks on to the floor, so when we try to clean it up and moved the wooded box, there was tons of spider webs, black gunk, it was just gross. The water heater leaks water, so the host has a plastic cup sitting on the bathroom counter collecting the water. The kitchen sink also has a lean under the sink, and there is a bowl to collect this water. It smells like mold and is absolutely disgusting. The wood beans have spide webs in the corners. The beds, two pull outs have no mattress protectors, so you can see the dirty mattress if you pull the sheets or they happen to come off accidentally. The dishes in the small cupboard were not clean bot the shelf, it had dust all over it.
2. There are no proper cups and glasses. There are these very tiny glasses, a little bigger than the shot glass. The coffee cups: there were two, but one had a chiped line so you couldn't use it or it would leak coffee....so my husband and I had to take turns drinking coffee.
3. The bathtub is clogged and doesn't drain well, so each time to shower, the used shower water sits to your ankles
4. The fold out couch was so uncomfortable, it was really hard to get any rest, I woke up every morning with back pain
5.Owner's Personal stuff everywhere. This was really disturbing. There are pictures, stuff all in the drawers, just everywhere. This was the first time we experienced this and it was really bizarre.
6. No privacy- so this was really bad, bit not the owners fault as obviously he has no controll over what others do. I would recommend he installs an air conditioner, could really help with this situation. The apartment is tiny, so you have to open the window if you want any air, and it gets got inside. Tge windows open to a shared courtyard, where people from the business next door, stand in front of your window and smoke cigarettes all day long. In addition, because of the courtyard set up, anything that is said inside the apartment, echos when the windows are open, so the whole neighborhood in the building set can hear you talking and God forbid laughing. This was super uncomfortable, as we constantly kept telling our kids to whisper while we all were getting second hand smoke.
7. Too cluttered- there are useless items everywhere. Little chairs, dressers and drawers full of owners stuff, so you can't use it for your own storage. It was just too cluttered for comfort. In a small place minimalism and shopping at Ikea would make a big difference here.
8. On the check out, twner sent me a message stating even though our flight is leaving really early, 7am, we should make sure that we leave the place tidy. I found this ironic considering the state we found it in.
To wrap up, this place has a lot of potential. With great location, if owner would put a little work into it, air conditioner, move personal items out, pay a cleaning crew, it would be a very good option. We really wanted to love it, but we're miserable here for two weeks. I do want to make a note on the door, since sso many people have commented on it before. You have to lift the handle all the way up, all the way, and then turn the key to unlock. We did not have any problems, as we followed someone's recommendation from reviews. it's worth noting that it has still jot been fixed despite numerous previous reviews. Having stated all the above, we would not return or recommend this place to anyone.