Overall fantastic. We are a family of four who stayed 8 nights.
Spacious and very elegant unit, yet warm; penthouse of a building built in 1880 in tony 17th Arr., near Arc de Triomphe but far enough north to be distanced from tourist crowds. Surrounded by locals, with plenty of patisseries, boulangeries, fruit vendors, cafes, restaurants, and other shops to let you live like Parisiens.
Unit description:
Elegant. Entryway leads to spacious living room (great artwork, lots of books), separate dining room (two square tables of 8 each), kitchen (VERY well equipped), master bedroom, split bathroom (toilet separate from shower / tub / sinks). There’s even a small area for entertaining toddlers. Stairs lead to 2nd floor with living room (more artwork and books), bedroom and split bathroom (toilet separate from tub / sinks). Another stairway leads to cozy 3rd floor kid cave with low ceilings, mattress, and TV (perfect for your self-immersed teenager!). The apartment is near several metro stations and bus stops.
Impressions:
Wow. Nice unit. It’s like staying with a (wealthy) friend who is a bookworm, chef and art collector: decorations throughout the apartment (artwork on the walls, statues all around) and books everywhere. The kitchen is VERY well appointed. The owners have done a great job separating areas with personal belongings which are off-limits.
It’s an older unit, so things sometimes don’t work just right. But we got pretty good response from Pierre (the property manager) and his team.
The kitchen is ample and full of anything and everything a chef might need - maybe too much stuff. The fridge / freezer is US-sized, which is very unusual in Europe. There’s a full-sized wine fridge with the owners’ collection, but it is locked for obvious reasons!
As hinted above, the one downside is that the excess of the owner’s decorations and personal items limit the space that guests have for their own things.
Management team:
Great welcome. Pierre sent someone to meet us when we arrived. He walked us through how to enter the building, helped with our luggage, patiently explained how appliances worked, went through the house manual, and was generally very welcoming. Sure beats the lockbox and self-service approach.
Pierre came by one day to inspect a leaky shower stall and fix the shower stall door. He was very cordial and was very familiar with the apartment. A colleague came by another day to inspect the dishwasher and leaky N’espresso machine. Pierre asked to come by again but no-showed. He did not respond to my notes through Air BnB over a weekend, so I called the management company. They were very cordial and had someone come by within minutes of the call.
Overall the team’s attitude was great. Response time was ok but no-showing an appointment is pretty serious in some cultures.
The house manual is very thorough and includes a full inventory of furniture and decorations, as well as instructions for using the appliances.
There are some unexpected items in the manual, such as cleaning instructions for the unit that request the departing guest leave the unit as clean as it was upon arrival, including kitchen (“Floor, walls and tile should be cleaned”), “all floors in all rooms should be vacuum cleaned and, if necessary, cleaned with water,” “bathroom should be properly cleaned including... toilet. “ Kind of makes you wonder what the “professional cleaners “ do after your stay. I’m hoping that we do not suffer the €120 they threaten to charge “if the apartment is not properly cleaned.”
Also, prior to our arrival we received an email outside the AirBnB system from the mgmt company confirming our upcoming reservation and suggesting a broker to handle rental insurance. The email claimed, “The tenant must subscribe to a multi-risk home insurance temporary, mandatory in France, to be covered in case of damage caused by a fire, an explosion or water damage.“ There is no mention of this on the listing. We contacted Air BnB Support. The response was swift and efficient: “We don't have any terms or policy that states that our guests traveling to France are required to get the insurance. The insurance that it mentions more on pertains to the home's insurance where you will be staying. I suggest for you not to get the insurance and verify the email first with the host.”
Takeaways:
We’d come back in a flash. The unit is spectacular and its location is great.