We stayed in Jean’s place for month in March 2019. We were pressed on time as another host canceled on us less than a week before our travel dates. The apartment was over priced, but we had no other acceptable options. Upon arrival check in was smooth. But then issues started to arise. Let’s start with the positives.
-The house is large for Paris standard, it sleeps 4 very very comfortably.
-The sofa bed is comfortable.
-The area is very safe surrounded with embassies and consulates.
- Amenities were close, and everything was a short walk away.
-There’s a guard in the lobby which made us feel even more safe.
The negatives:
-The house was dirty, only the beds were made. We found potato chips and toys under the couches, it looked as if it wasn’t vacuumed after the guest before us had left. The balcony was an absolute dump. We spent a whole week cleaning up before it was acceptable.
-The hot water in all showers and baths is iffy, mind you we complained ALOT. The weather was between 1-8 Celsius and we had no consistent hot water in the showers. It would switch between hot/cold/tepid water, which made every shower a nightmare. The host was replying on time and very communicative. But what had happened was he sent us 3 different plumbers who quoted the same issue. We were visited 4-5 times for the hot water issue. But it was never fixed. Each new plumber gave a new quotation for the same problem. But for the whole month no one actually fixed it.
- The shutters in the master bedroom, the kitchen, and the extra room with the sofa bed aren’t functioning. The master bedroom, it’s closed halfway, we ended up putting tinfoil on the windows to block the light. The extra room we had a handyman in one of the many visits drag in manually to close it without a way to open. And the kitchen had a shutter that was very old and rusty, it would make a knocking noise every time the wind blew. The handyman and my brother found a temporary way to drag it up without a possibility of closing. Then another handyman showed up, gave the host a quotation, and nothing was fixed.
-The windows in the living room and extra room don’t close well enough to block the noises from the street, mind you it’s a noisy street. The bedrooms however were quiet.
-the oven wasn’t working, the dishwasher and dryer too. The handyman managed to fix the dishwasher and dryer. But the oven releases hot air and doesn’t get as warm as it should. Mind you it didn’t work for the first 3 days.
- You cannot turn on more than two appliances at the same time. The electricity would shut off every time we turned on the stove and dishwasher, or stove and washing machine, etc. We had to be strategic.
-the intercom doesn’t work for the apartment, which made every delivery a bit of a hassle, but the gardian would open for them but only if we communicated with guardian directly. Luckily, I speak French, otherwise it would be difficult to communicate to the delivery guy and guardian every time.