When we checked in, there was not a single roll of toilet paper. It seems so silly to focus on this when we think of our beautiful trip to Paris, but when 4 tired travelers arrive in their apartment after climbing 5 flights of a spiral staircase and cannot go to the bathroom, it leaves an impression. There were two dirty/used/stiff towels hanging - one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom. The pillowcase on the pillow was torn. We wanted to stay at an AirBnB for the convenience of having a kitchen but we didn’t feel that the kitchen was clean enough to prepare meals. No more than one person could be in the tiny kitchen at a time.
We thought there would be enough room to use the table and chairs for a meal. Since we all had luggage and there was no closet space to store it, there was not enough living space/room. The fourth floor walk-up was really a fifth floor walk up as the 1st floor was one flight up... that would have been helpful to know. The hallway had lights on every floor but ours, something that felt unsettling when returning home in the dark.
When we informed our host that there was no toilet paper in the apartment, the response was, “I am going to ring my housekeeper’s neck.” Not “I will make sure my housekeeper brings some over,” which would have been nice. Thank goodness the store next door was open and had some toilet paper. I would never have someone staying in my home and make the beds with torn linens, leave out dirty towels, and not provide common necessities.
If we had this to do all over again, we would have stayed in a hotel. The apartment felt just a little too old and outdated and missing some fresh touches. The bathroom, especially the shower/tub felt like it had not had a good cleaning in ages. The floors creaked so loudly that we felt badly for the people beneath us when we woke early for sightseeing - and we were annoyed to be woken up by neighbors above who seemed to be wearing cement shoes at 2:00 a.m. The recommendations for restaurants were helpful; we tried a few (Bistro 77 and a local Patisserie) and were very pleased. The visit to Paris was lovely. The next time we use AirBnB, we will ask for a virtual tour and/or list items which we assumed would be present.