Well, on the plus side: the place is beautiful and newly renovated (as was the entire house during our stay).
Before we left, i asked for a cot and the exact metro station close by for better planning, to which they responded within minutes. So far so good.
The keys were handed over by some student, who was friendly but not particularly interested in being a host or asking if we needed anything else. We chose this place partly because of an elevator since we brought our 2month old baby and her stroller. Turns out the elevator does have enough space for 2 people and a shopping bag. Still fine, because it was a lovely house and we sent the luggage upstairs a few times.
When i asked the young man about detergent for the dishwasher, he replied that we could buy them from the host. We never experienced that before in an airbnb - we were mildly surprised to put it mildly. I also only realized that we got one key once the young man was gone (and i was done with a hungry baby), which made our stay quite a coordination effort.
Next we realize ALL the glasses and mugs are dirty (from finger and lip prints to smeary things being stuck inside...). I call the host to tell him that this is not what we expected and that i still need a second key. The replies i got over the phone are as follows:
- “this is an airbnb and not a hotel. You cannot expect everything to be clean and pretty as in a hotel...”
- “what is the problem? You can clean the glasses yourself right?” (Note: there was an old and very dirty sponge in the kitchen cupboard which looked like it has been used to clean windows...)
- “can you please send photos of the glasses so i can complain with the cleaning services?”
- “i will send the maid tomorrow to clean it”
- “i can stop by tomorrow to bring you the key between 12-1 lunch time”
—> again, we were surprised by that “alternative service approach” especially since the hosts seem to have made a business out of renting out airbnb apmts
To sum it up:
- the maid never showed up
- i did send all the photos, never received any reply
- we used a lot of toilet paper to get the baby bottles cleaned
- the second key arrived around 6pm delivered by the young man without prior notification, which we turned down because we were about to leave the next day in the morning
As mentioned, the place itself is beautiful and if you do not mind paying for a place and then end up cleaning in the beginning of your stay or deal with a non-service oriented host, you will have a good time!