There are a few goods and not-so-goods about our stay.

The location of the apartment is great! It is only 5 mins away from the subway station and a big shopping mall where my galfriend and myself spent 4 very ‘fruitful’ hours without realizing how time flied. There are many lovely and bars in the area too. The downside of the location is that, the apartment is located in the center of the “red light district” which can be quite dodgy at night with the strip clubs, adult shops, and adult video stores around. For example, the apartment is located in #117 of the street, and there is a “Video 117”right at the door. We also saw a drunk man peeing right on the sidewalk next to our apartment building one night. The prostitutes standing on the sides of the street at night also made us feel a little bit uncomfortable. My galfriend and myself are well traveled and had ‘seen it all’ before. Just a friendly reminder to those ladies traveling solo or in female-only groups.

Felipe was a careful and “demand-oriented” host. He made it absolutely clear about what he exactly demands from us upfront. We had a little miscommunication previously about having a 3rd person staying in the apartment. It was our fault to have given Felipe the impression that we would have 3rd person, and we promised at the end we would only have 2 pax. However, Felipe was very uptight about our stay at his apartment. At the face-to-face check-in, he repeatedly emphasized that only 2 pax would be allowed, warned us about having his neighbor ‘to keep an eye on us’, and threatened us that he would kick us out. He was also being very untrusting and doubtful, questioning why we didn’t look like the picture of our Airbnb account. He even doubted if we were the true passport holders. Frankly, we won’t say that our first encounter with Felipe was a friendly one. We definitely didn’t feel welcomed by the host at the key-handover.

We were traveling with 3 other families who also booked on Airbnb. Their hosts were absolutely helpful and warm at check-in, personally showing them around the apartment and explaining about how things work in the apartment. They were also flexible, friendly, and most importantly welcoming.