What did we like?
We liked the location and the sea view from the balcony and bedroom windows. We liked that apartment was roomy. We really liked that the grocery stores and the restaurants were close to the apartment. Also, it was appreciated that the hosts responded quickly.
What did we dislike?
The first impression was that the apartment was outdated. In the pictures, it seemed more modern. We noticed some mold and salt build up on window frames from the first days but did not mention it because we wanted to be polite. Additionally, as the outside temperatures started to decrease at the end of November there were more and more problems with humidity. We tried having the windows open and drying the window areas, but it did not help much. Due to temperature decrease, it was not possible to keep windows open all the time.
It would have been good if the apartment had proper ventilation and a heating system to keep it drier. Especially since it is located at the seaside. It might be that during dry seasons on Crete this problem does not occur so much but my recommendation would be to use some ventilation from November to March where temperatures drop more and humidity can become an issue. Overall it is best to rent this apartment in the dry season as otherwise, it can become quite uncomfortable.
The apartment was not properly cleaned when we first arrived there and had a bit weird smell. And when we tried to clean the apartment during our stay we saw that there were not enough cleaning utilities (cleaning agents, sponges, vacuum, more efficient mop). Would recommend keeping something more for people who are staying longer so they can keep the apartment clean easily all the time.
The cupboards on the 2nd floor next to the bed had a very bad smell and we could not put anything in them. I would recommend replacing that part of the furniture or cleaning it more thoroughly. Not sure what was causing the bad smell.
The laundry rack was rusty and we felt uncomfortable drying the clothes on it.
We didn’t want to say anything bad during our stay, because the hosts seemed nice, and didn’t want to judge someone else’s home, because our standards are usually higher. And we just wanted to enjoy our stay and not worry about the apartment. Which we succeeded, we didn’t think about the disadvantages. What made us give a review is due to the feedback from the hosts. In hindsight, we should have not accepted the house when we first got there.