On the surface, this apartment looks very clean and modern, but we had significant issues with our stay and with the host’s communication from the beginning. Asking for security deposits, requiring guests to fill out additional information via links off of Airbnb, and communicating outside of the Airbnb app are all forbidden by Airbnb policy and this host engages in all of these sketchy behaviours. In addition, paying for electricity separately is bizarre and should be included in the price of the stay.
Check in instructions are extremely unclear and in general the apartment could benefit from a house manual. We had significant trouble with the key fob not working, and then finding the apartment itself in the maze of the building. We were only able to enter the building with the help of another resident, who informed us that the key fob often does not work in the rain (it rains a lot in Ireland and we were caught in the rain trying to figure this out).
One of the showers did not work and the sinks gave no warm water. The kitchen sink smelled like sewage when turned on and we felt we could not safely drink the water. The construction of the bathrooms was especially poor, as there was no caulking on the toilet (toilet moved out of place when in use) or shower, the shower door comes partially off it’s hinges, knobs were installed incorrectly leading to scalding water when attempting to turn shower off, and several pieces of furniture were broken (I.e. wardrobe). We asked the host with help figuring out the broken shower and he did not answer, but we received automated messages about checking out. I was especially disappointed that he expected us to communicate via a third party messaging app, which is prohibited by Airbnb and leaves no paper trail if anything were to happen.
The apartment was mostly very clean. However, we were disappointed to find that one of the showers was still wet and that there were several small hairs in it, leading us to believe that it had not been cleaned after the previous guests’ departure.
The only redeeming factor of this place is the location and the spaciousness. We felt unsafe here mostly due to the host’s behaviour and the problems with the shower and plumbing. For the price, I would much rather stay in a hotel. It is not worth the value.