We booked this flat thinking that it would be roomy and well located. It’s somewhat spacious, but a lot of the space is hallway/stairs or areas that can’t be optimized. The dining table only fits against the wall and if we had had to use the sofa in the living room area it would have been too tight. As soon as we finally opened the building door, I had a feeling that this place was not well cared for. The mats on the entrance hallway were all bunched up and made opening the door difficult. And the end of the hallway was the deposit of the trash cans. The apartment door lock worked (as opposed to the building lock, which didn’t) and as soon as the door opened, the stairwell to the apartment starts. The one-counter kitchen area doesn’t really allow for much cooking and very few items are available (2 pots, few dishes, toaster, coffe maker, electric kettle). No salt or pepper or anything else. The electric stove glass top was broken. It really gave the place a poorly maintained feeling. And no warnings about it. Since the check in is contactless, you get no instructions on how to use the stove, which is not intuitive. We called the host and he guided us through the process (on French) in a very condescending manner. I notified the host on the first night that the building lock did not work properly and he asked to send a picture of the problem. I don’t know how send g a picture of a lock helps, but I did. He said a colleague would stop by the next day to look into it, but we did not hear anything else until I complained again after the second night. Other items that didn’t work or were subpar were: two of the window locks (this is a VERY loud street and it the windows are not well-locked, you hear even passers by’s conversations) didn’t lock, there stains of dirt on the walls, all the dining chairs had broken plastic on the sitting area, the mirror on the bathroom window looked like it would fall from its screw any moment, the shower had fungus on the corners, and the sofa had many stains. Not the expected condition of a place for over USD$200/night.
The second night a poor woman yelled outside for what seemed to be hours because she was staying on the street. Because of the half-open windows, we were awakened by the noise and fearful for our safety, because the building lock was not fixed and we found the door unlocked constantly.
I asked the host to accept to change my reservation to leave sooner because we didn’t feel safe (and I listed all of the above deficiencies) and that I would take up the issue with Airbnb if they didn’t approve the end date. She responded that I should stop threatening them. No word about any of the complaints or an attempt to fix anything.
So I stopped writing them and was able to get Airbnb to persuade them to let us out without a penalty. I still had TJ suck up takes and cleaning at a different location, but it was worth not having to stay there for the remaining week we had.
A word of caution for your stays: DON’T tolerate deficiencies and inform Airbnb within the first 24 hours so they can get you out of the stay if that is what you need. After 24 hours the host has to agree to change your stay dates and you may end up paying penalties for leaving sooner.
Stay away from this rental if you don’t want a run-of-the-mill IKEA flat wit no character, on a super noisy street, and with hosts that decide you’re not worth their time because you’re past the window for cancellation.