We arrived at our AirB&B in Dublin to find that the images on the Air Bnb website hid all of the flaws and atmosphere of the apartment.
From the start we had issues, the host didn’t send through the apartment information until a couple of hours before the check in. I had a conversation a few weeks prior where the host said we could check in at midday, however upon arrival, they changed the time to 2pm, meaning we were left walking around Dublin with our luggage for longer than wanted.
The key collection is further from the Airbnb than expected, and we had issues picking up the keys. The staff at the key collection were adamant I needed a code or a slip to collect the keys, however all I had received from the host was the apartment address. This was resolved after 5 minutes of panic when luckily the manager came back from a break and was able to sort the issue out and hand over the keys.
When we finally checked into the Airbnb we were incredibly underwhelmed.
I had booked the apartment for a stay for four people, but the sofa bed was unmade and was very difficult to fold out. So much so that we started to believe it wasn’t a sofa bed at all. The towels and bedding were stuffed under the sofa to make up the bed ourselves.
After an early flight, we were looking forward to a nice hot shower, we had checked the amenities before setting off on this trip we saw that shampoo, conditioner, and body wash were to be provided. We were shocked and disappointed to find that in fact there was none of the above, and having not packed any ourselves we had to go out in search of buying it, not ideal at all.
Moving on to the bedroom, the vent in the window was lodged continuously open. Meaning that all the cold air and street noise was unbearable. A car alarm went off at 4am and it felt as if the car was in the bedroom with us.
The mattress was quite honestly the worst I have ever slept on. So solid it felt like sleeping on a few layers of cardboard.
The whole flat was cold and we didn’t trust using the heaters in the bedroom, that looked as if it was hanging off the wall. There was only one bedside lamp, handily on the side of the bed you couldn’t reach, as you couldn’t walk around the bed as it fills the room wall to wall. We found the other bedside lamp broken and shoved in the wardrobe. This is the same for opening and closing the bedroom curtains, you have to crawl over the bed to reach.
The apartment was hard to walk around as the flooring was extremely slippery (for some bizarre reason?) and parts of the floorboards were broken or not connected. (Will attach a photo)
The kitchen light didn’t work at all. Just flickered like a bad horror movie. This meant it was impossible to cook or prepare anything as it was at the back of the apartment meaning there was no natural light.
The flat did seem clean however had a strange food/damp smell which I can imagine came from other flats as well.
The bathroom was one of the better rooms in the house as it felt more modern however the shower continued to leak after use and there were holes in the walls. The whole place just felt a bit unfinished and hazardous. The towel rail was broken and on the floor. There wasn’t a single hook anywhere in the apartment to hang a towel. (The photos of the bathroom show the rail on the wall)
The instructions to leave the keys after our stay was also a little misleading. The owner asked us to lock the door when we left the apartment but leave the keys on the kitchen table?
Overall I was expecting so much more from a super host. (not really sure how Airbnb vets apartments but after this, I’m slightly worried!)
The apartment was so underwhelming, from the cold loud rooms, slippery floor, no kitchen light and no toiletries or places to hang your towel.
The issue with the bedroom vent, the broken floorboards and kitchen light needs to be addressed ASAP as this is quite unacceptable in a stay.
I would avoid, or be prepared should you choose to stay here yourselves.