Before our flight, we arranged with Bertrand to meet his friend at the apartment. We spoke with his friend once we landed, and agreed to meet at 10 am. We took the train from the airport, fully expecting to walk into the apartment, drop off our bags, and go on a day-trip to Versailles.
Instead, we walked up the stairs, opened the door, and were shocked to see that the previous guests were still in the apartment (they were just as shocked to see us). They thought their check-out wasn't until 1 (as it states on the site), and no one told us that we couldn't get into the apartment until after that (official check-in is flexible, so when we spoke with Bertrand and told him we'd be there at 10, we thought we were okay). Needless to say we were blind-sided, as we had nowhere to leave our bags until after 1 when we'd have to meet Bertrand's friend again to go back up to the apartment. We were not prepared for this, and were pretty disappointed by the awkward and avoidable situation.
Bertrand's friend told us to come back at 1 and that the place would be empty, cleaned and ready then. When we met up at the apartment at 1, we found out that the couple was still in the apartment. They didn't leave the apartment until 1:30, then we got up to realize that the place was very dirty. We just wanted to get the keys and drop our stuff off, so we did and we tried to enjoy our day.
When we returned around 4pm, the place was clean and we were finally settled. If we'd known that we couldn't check in until after 3, we would have made other arrangements or booked a different place.
Bertrand was very apologetic, admitting his mistake and trying his best to make up for it with a bottle of wine and lots of messages. His place is actually great, huge windows, perfect location, close to the Metro and just a 15 minute walk to the river. It's a very spacious and chic place, and we'd definitely recommend it, just make sure to get your check-in/check-out situation set in stone before you do.