This is quite frankly the worst Airbnb experience of my entire life. I have traveled in Europe, UK, United States and Cuba and have never had such a poor experience like this one.
To start, when I booked this flat it because of the prior reviews that the host was supposedly very responsive and attentive to detail. A few days prior to my arrival she informed me that she would also be out of town and had left her friend in charge. Normally I would think this is OK as there could be a lock box where the key is left and things are arranged prior but in this case I was made aware that she would be leaving a friend of charge.
This friend message me two days prior to my arrival to coordinate meeting me at the flat to drop off the key. I was told that if he could not make it at the time designated that the key would be under the mat. Upon arriving the key was not only under the mat but I was told that it was locked inside of the apartment and that he was “too busy to come bring me the key” and I would have to wait several hours for him to finish running his errands as he said “ some of us have to work while you are on vacation”.
I obviously expressed my disappointment in the situation and I was told that “things could be worse” and that “this home was not a hotel but instead a home sharing program” and that I needed to simply “deal with it”.
This experience ruined our first day in Paris as we ended up waiting for six hours on the stairs of the fourth floor for the host to arrive with the key as he was too busy to make arrangements to come sooner.
As far as the flat goes, there’s no elevator so please make sure that you are in GREAT shape to climb very narrow old wooden stairs exactly 4 flights of those each time that you come in and out.
Also, the sofa bed was so uncomfortable that two of us took turns sleeping on the floor while the other two slept on the bed, which was just OK.
I later found out upon checking out that the sheets were not washed prior to my arrival. So there’s that disgusting detail too. (See more about that below)
There is only one bath tub and it clogs very easily
there was one bottle of half used cheap shampoo no conditioner no hand soap exactly 4 towels were left one per person for a five-day stay. So plan accordingly to use the same towel your ENTIRE visit.
The night before checkout I asked if I could leave at 1:30PM as one would hope that my checkIN experience AND overall experience was so poor that this would be reasonable. I was told that I needed to leave promptly at 11 AM as a new guest was checking in at 3 PM but that I could leave my luggage there until 1 PM.
I agreed to this and left everything in good shape with a bag of trash by the door and a small pile of towels and sheets on the floor for the cleaning person to wash as I ASSUMED that this is BASIC hygiene and care, something that would be tended to by the cleaning person which by the way is a fee that you pay for when renting the flat.
I was later told that I was lucky that I was not being charged extra for cleaning as I did not fold the sheets and put them back on the bed, clearly an indicator that sheets are not washed after every visit! GROSS !!!!!!
I would not recommend this place based off of my experience since there are literally thousands of options in Paris and the price point is high while the and lack of customer service and amenities is extremely poor.
Luckily this was my third visit to Paris and my prior experiences with Airbnb there as well as everywhere else quite frankly have been positive. Too bad that this host has become complacent and no longer cares. Good luck to you I hope this review is helpful in making a decision.