Unfortunately, my experience here was by far the least positive I've had on Airbnb so far.
The heating, the appallingly by furniture, omitting some essential information and the interaction with my host's husband were some of the issues that I'm going to address.
My host wasn't home when I arrived which is ok. She described in a message how to get to the room that was prepared for me and it wasn't the same one shown in the pictures but it provided the same "amenities" and it had the same amount of space so that wasn't a problem either.
The problems:
1. The room: I had paid €81 per night and that sure wasn't worth it. The furniture in the room was just so cheap and didn't look nice at all. I was visiting Dublin for the first time and just really needed a place to stay with the basic amenities since I spent the days out exploring the city. I didn't expect luxury but that was the first time on Airbnb that it really felt like I was in a room furnished with stuff of such low quality that it was not fine for what I had paid.
The shower couldn't be used while the one of the room next to mine was in use. There was no information at all about it in the announcement. There were sheets of paper hanging on the doors inside the room saying that both showers couldn't be used simultaneously with my host's telephone number of there were any issues. The shower wasn't and built in one but a small one hanging on the wall with very low pressure. The rack to hang the shower head on was old and didn't hold its position so that the water stream would turn to the wall.
2. The heating: The whole house was cold and I got sick.
It was mid April and clearly still cold. The heating would only be turned on for a couple of hours during the nigh and on the second day not even the water in the sink and in the shower were heating up enough. I was lucky that I had taken a shower after returning to the apartment because my host wasn't home and it took her a long time to react to my message regarding the issue.
After returning to the apartment the radiator in the bedroom was warm but the other ones in the rest of the rooms of the house I had access to were not working. In fact they didn't work throughout my whole stay.
This is definitely the least a host should provide when renting a room on Airbnb and failing to do so as well as not properly reacting to solve the issue after a complaint is just unacceptable.
3. The dinning room: There was a small fridge in beside the dinner table, a kettle and a microwave in the dinning room.
Since it wasn't part of the agreement that I would have access to the kitchen, I supposed there would be enough bottled water to use for a tea or coffee but just there wasn't.
There were two bottles of water in the fridge and that was all. In the last message prior to my check in, the host also said "and there's tea and coffee" in the dinner room" when in fact none of that was there.
4. Invasion of privacy: I had only communicated with my host via text messages and met her once for 5 minutes on the second day.
After messaging her concerning the issue with the heating, I seemed to have become an inconvenience and she simply asked when I would check out on the last day because she had a reservation request with an early check-in wish. My response was just that I still didn't know. I understand that the host and the guests can agree on having different check-in and checkout times than the ones in the announcement but it isn't an obligation. The check out time otherwise is generally 11 am, as it was the case there, and I intended to make use of that.
On the last morning around 9 am, I was packing my bags in the bedroom and a man I didn't know just knocked on the door, opened it (I hadn't locked it because I was there and didn't think it was necessary), entered the room and said "I want to know when you're leaving". I was just so surprised in the moment that I just said "isn't the checkout time 11 am?" And he just went away. I just started wondering what that meant and who the guy was and was really scared at the moment. Specially because I had never seen that guy and still could hear him stomping in the corridor in front of the room after leaving for a couple of minutes.
I thought I would just pack my things and bring them downstairs as soon as possible which I did. While I was standing in the living room the guy just passed by again and didn't say a word to me.
I texted my host about it and reported the situation to Airbnb's customer service.
Later my host texted me saying, that that was her husband and that she considered it to be "perfectly fine to ask someone when he's leaving." Of course it is, when you've been previously at least informed about that. Otherwise it's just a stranger entering the room and that really scared me at the moment. The whole strange atmosphere in the house added to that.
I am honestly surprised about the positive reviews and this experience has taught me to rely on them so much. I also ask myself if they haven't been fabricated to a certain extent.
Fortunately I had always had great experiences with my previous stays and even nice and pleasant interactions with my hosts. I didn't see this coming and I hope no one has