We arrived late and the key of the apartment was in a lock box. We picked up the key and with help of the instructions we went to the apartment. It was pretty spacious, but built in. East German style with very thin walls and pretty primitive windows. Windows are very difficult to open. Keeping them open is even more difficult as there is no way to lock them in place and the way how they are done might result in big damages in case of slight wind.
Worst thing was very strong odor, which was coming from a scented cleaner or dedicated scent. It was placed just to cover up other odor in the apartment. Over night we kept all windows open, but it did not help much. In the morning my eyes were burning and my daughter had very bad headache. We went to the office to ask for a solution. The lady in office said that nothing can be done. I sent message to Katharina and she answered right away. She immediately called the office and arranged for a solution. We were given keys to a new apartment for inspection. We inspect the new apartment in close distance and found that there is no strong odor or scent. We moved in in new apartment. This took half day of outlet vacation, but provided a reasonable solution.
In new apartment windows had same issues as in previous apartment. On top of that many dishes in the kitchen were in very bad state. Most reasonable people would put the cups, pans and cutting board in trash. For example one cup had many big yellow stains which could be egg residues or something even worse. The cutting board had spots of mold under top coated surface. I let Katharina know about these and she wrote back that she will look into these. Unfortunately she never followed up on these.
The apartment was also not cleaned recently. Since Katharina was not responsive we cleaned it he dust on all floors ourselves. Together with buying new dishes we lost another half a day of our vacation.
A package was supposed to be delivered for me in the office. I went to the office asking whether they received a package for me. According to my daughter the clerk came back and said something, but I was not paying attention and asked again. The clerk got angry and yelled at me that I should go ask in the neighboring restaurant for my package. Also at check out I was very late and had no time and the other clerk wanted me to stay and fill up contract and sign. Very rude and very unprofessional office personnel.