The apartment was beautiful, and as pictured, but quite small to be shared by 4 people. Carole and her boyfriend, Jean-Baptiste were very nice. The neighborhood provided a real Parisian experience, not just the tourist experience. There were little supermarkets and specialty food stores within easy walking distance, as well as wonderful little restaurants. It was our first AirBnB experience and we have waited to review our experience until we had something to compare it with, because we did not feel completely comfortable while we were staying at Carole's.
We were told the boyfriend would meet us at the apartment. We were given no further information. The building front door needs an access code, which we were not given. A neighbor let us in. Once in, we tried ringing the apartment, but there was no answer. We had another neighbor help us by using her wifi to contact Carole - the boyfriend was upstairs waiting, while we were stranded downstairs...not a good beginning. The listing states that Carole is working, but it says nothing about a live-in boyfriend who works from home most of the time. We were basically relegated to our bedroom with a futon mattress on the floor and a tiny uncomfortable chair. We had to tiptoe around to use the shared toilet and bath, because they slept with their bedroom door open.
On the last night we tried to shower, but there was only cold water. It was implied that having 4 people in the apartment used up all the hot water. We had not been home all day and had not used a drop of hot water. The water heater only heats once every 24 hours. They had a pizza and movie night in the living room, which again, left us stuck in our small bedroom. In the morning we awoke to no place to sit down for breakfast. The sofa had glasses, cups, and dishes on it, pizza boxes and dishes on the counter, clothes on all the chairs, and the couple engaged in their bedroom.
Although we liked both of them and enjoyed our conversations with them, we would not stay here again. They are young, delightful and totally clueless about what it means to share a living space. We felt like we were an inconvenience and an intrusion in their lives, and not like respected paying guests.