This Airbnb is cute, clean, and in a good area. Not sure if I would stay again, as I don’t know if some difficulties I dealt with are worth the value of what I paid. I’ll share my experience:
Short version: extremely difficult door (will need a lot of exertion to close and open every time you come and go), very weak and unreliable wifi that barely works, and organization/communication/safety could be improved. On a positive note, the Airbnb is clean, cute, and in a good area.
Full version: Host/company was communicative before we arrived and the day we arrived. I notified host the day of our arrival that our flight was delayed so we had to meet 1hr later than the planned time (4:30pm). At 4:28, I told her we were still waiting for a taxi to take us from the train station to the apartment. At 4:46, she said she could no longer wait for us because she had an appointment at 5:30. No problem, she sent very detailed self/check-in directions which I really appreciated.
When we walked in the building, it didn’t smell pleasant (wet wood/sewage) and I assumed it was because it had rained that week. We made our way up 4 flights of stairs to the top apartment. The host had warned us in her WhatsApp message to “be careful the door of the apartment is difficult to open and close, you need a little force”—that was an understatement! Definitely one of the more frustrating parts of our stay was getting in and out of our apartment. My friend and I are strong, and we would struggle for a while each time we left/entered, really having to exert ourselves for this door to lock and unlock—door is not just old, but defected.
When we got in our apartment, it was very clean and minimal, which I liked. The unpleasant smell from the apartment building from when we first walked in was not in the apartment itself, so that was good.
Wifi is weak and barely works. Very temperamental and you have to be in certain spots of the apartment. Notified the host and they suggested to in-plug and plug back in the router. Do not expect to do work, stream videos, or go on social media with this wifi—which is a shame, because the city of Bordeaux does not have a lot of public wifi to use.
Lastly, half way through our stay, I received a message through Airbnb that the building had to change the locks. We thought this was strange, but oh well. On our last night, we arrived home around 10pm, and the door to the apartment building was wide open (the door to our apartment itself was still locked), no lights on. It was strange and concerning. I told the host this when we checked out, and never received a response about it. When we checked out, we were told there was a new code with new keys, and when we tried to lock the door, it wouldn’t work. We figured this was why the apartment building door was wide open the other night—other guests could not get it to lock either. Overall, complicated and did not feel that safe.
Fair warning, there is a bar on the other side of the street and you can hear people having a good time until very late at night.
On our last day, the host messaged me on WhatsApp and said “I don’t know when your stay is over, if you haven’t left, here is the new code for the key box..”. I found it strange that our host didn’t know when we were leaving. I’d assume hosts would know who is checking in and out on what dates.
The area of Airbnb is nice and the tram/bus system is very convenient and easy to use. I’d highly recommend a trip to Bordeaux!