I think this AirBnB would work just fine for some people but not for others. Here are some details in case they’re helpful:
Positive:
—Although the apartment, including all the furniture and decor, is very dated (from the 90s? earlier?), it might have been the cleanest apartment, hotel, etc. that I have ever stayed in. Whoever cleaned the place deserves high praise, and a raise! Despite some downsides about the stay for me, the cleanliness made the experience positive overall. Thank you!
—The front room is large (living room and kitchen combined), bright, and comfortable, with a small pretty balcony off to the side (it seats 2, or 4 in a pinch).
—The kitchen is well equipped.
Negative:
—While it’s a pleasant place, Westport Quay, where the apartment is located, doesn’t offer too much to do (and is monopolized by a parking lot). It is not a beautiful waterfront setting.
Most people visiting Westport would probably want to go out to the bars and restaurants in the main town, which Westport is well known for. On the map, the town doesn’t look too far away from the Quays, but it’s a mile up and over a steep hill, with a few narrow turns that cars careen around. You might be happy doing this walk during the day but probably wouldn’t want to at night or after going to those Westport bars. Also, it’s usually pretty windy—not a calm after-dinner stroll.
Taxis (€8-10 to town (not sure if that’s per person or per ride, though)) are usually plentiful, but they sometimes turn off their phones during the week pretty early after dinnertime. In the mornings, they’re often pre-booked doing school runs. Make sure to try to book with them ahead unless you’re going out midday or Fri/Sat/Sun night.
—The apartment is on the top floor of a big building. Until recently, the building was an apartment hotel, with a staffed lobby. Now, it’s no longer staffed and the former lobby, on the ground floor, is blocked off, leased to a private business. That means a few things:
The elevator no longer stops on the ground floor at all. So when you are arriving back to the apartment, if you’re coming from the street, to get the apartment, you need to enter and walk the long way around a dark basement car park to get to the elevator. Or you can go inside the large central courtyard (pretty rundown, I should add), walk to the far end of it, walk up the stairs to the top floor, and walk back. When I was staying there, one of the stairwells had all of its lights burnt out. In the other stairwell at the opposite end, only two lights were working. As a lone female, the options of walking in a dark basement car park or up an unlit 4-story stairwell was a bad way to get home after dark, especially since there was no one around.
—Related to this: There are signs throughout the apartment and a landline that say, “Call Reception in case of xyz emergency” or “in case there’s no hot water,” etc. Now, there is no reception, and the host declined to provide a phone number, preferring the AirBnB app. If you get locked out (the apartment door locks behind you automatically), have a problem with a late checkin (the lockbox gets stuck), or have some other after-hours or urgent issue with the apartment, it’s strange to know that there’s no one to call or on the premises of this large building.
—As another reviewer mentioned, people can walk right next to the bedroom windows (because you get to the apartments via old American-motel-style walkways). That means you’ll probably keep the curtains closed, like everyone in the building seems to do. That makes the bedrooms, with old furniture and no light, pretty depressing, not somewhere you’d probably want to spend time. Luckily, the front room is nice and bright.
—The bathrooms might be dangerous for the elderly or those who aren’t sure on their feet. The floors are old sheet linoleum, which are extremely slippery when they’re wet. The floor tub isn’t flat, there’s only one small, low grab bar in each tub, and there are no bathmats available, so you need to be careful.
—The bedroom with the two twin beds would be comfortable for children or very small adults, I think, but not larger people. The duvets are extra narrow, so they let in cold air while you sleep, and in the apartment, there’s no option to adjust the heat! (I did see some duvet inserts in a storage area; maybe the host can supply other bedding on request.)
—In keeping with the age of the apartment, there isn’t much hot water. You’ll get one full hot bath or shower per day, not convenient if there are several guests. There are instructions for turning back the timer settings and then re-setting them in order to heat up more water. For those not used to these systems, it’s a little complicated just so two people can have showers, but at least it’s possible to do (if you figure it out).
I hope this was helpful.