We were 2 families with small kids, traveling in beautiful Rome. We would like to write the good, the bad and the ugly about our stay in the apartment at Trastevere. Overall, I would say that it was a big disappointment, especially how the property manager & owner managed an important 'bed bug issue' during our stay. Please read it here:
THE GOOD: The communication process with Marzia before our stay was very smooth and informational. She helped us arrange our drivers from/to the airport, a private tour guide for our group and answered all of our questions. When we arrived at the apartment, we were given a tour of the house by the property manager, Paola, and were greeted by complimentary champagne, fruits and sweet treats.
The location of the apartment was amazing! It was facing one of the famous squares (Piazza di Santa Maria), had the view of the beautiful church facade and was close to anything you might need: supermarket, pharmacy, and tons of restaurants and cafes.
THE BAD: The amenities that are stated in the descriptions were not working properly:
1. Water in the showers were either too cold or too hot,
2. Espresso machine was not working properly, leaking water at the bottom
3. Dishwasher was not working properly, not washing the dishes, and stopping in the middle. We had to handwash the dishes half of the time!
4. Washer was not working properly - left all of the clothes soaked in wet. We had to re-wash everything in HAND since we weren't sure if the water that the clothes were soaked in was dirty or clean. Defnitely not something you want to do on your VACATION!
THE UGLY!: Bed bugs!
After the first night of our stay, one of the moms and her 10 year old daughter, who were sleeping on the same bed, woke up with itching feeling and slight bumps in their face and body. We all thought first that they were bitten by mosquitoes since there were some flying ones inside the house. The second morning, there were more bites on them. We still thought again maybe due to mosquitoes but thought it was weird that they were only biting the 2 of them out of 8 people staying in the same apartment. The bites on the daughter started to get bigger and bumpier on her face! On the 3rd morning, dad started to google the picture of those bumps (it was looking worse on the poor daughter's face that day) and found out that the pictures were similar to those bites from the bed bugs! We all immediately stopped eveything and went inside to check under the bed and found alive and dead bugs on the bed and in-between the layers of the sheets (there were four layers)! We shared this with the property manager, Paola, and asked for help. First she said she has never heard them before, and asked us to send a picture. We sent the pictures and she said that she was sure those are not bed bugs and didn't believe us until we send pictures of the bugs and the bites on our daughter's face and body. It was January 1st so they couldn't have any chemical treatment service to come and clean the house. After us pushing them to find a solution to the problem, finally house owner came and changed the linens on the impacted bed. As you might know (if not google), bed bugs do not go away by changing linens. They need to be treated by some chemical treatment for them to go away completely. This was not done. But what is also more disappointing and saddening is that, when we finally talked to the owner, after not finding any solution through the property manager, the owner didn't believe us and questioned us if we brought the bed bugs un the house! The house wasn't treated by pest control on Jan 2nd either. Neither another solution was offered nor another follow up to even ask if we are doing ok. Our friends had to sleep in the same bed for 2 more nights since we didn't have any other options. We also shared our concern on the bed bugs can get into our luggages and asked for chemical treating of the floors around the luggages to avoid the spread of it. But the manager and the owner kept insisting on that bed bugs don't jump on luggages (again google it, they do!! especially since we do not know how infested the house might have been, they could even impact other rooms and luggages laying around the floors) and they kept implying on that we might have brought them in our luggages (?)
For the next Airbnb, please ask the owner about this issue, and do not stay there until the house is free from the bed bug problem.
it is very saddening that we had such a BAD experience in this house. And it is very frustrating to hear manager or owner's attitude about it. We have stayed in many more VRBOs or AirBnBs before, and would be very understanding if the owners tried to acknowledge the problem (rather than quizzing us on what a bed bug is or not), become more proactive to solve the problem (rather than us explaining over and over and asking for help many times), and truly helping us (they didn't follow up on the issue after they changed the linens of the impacted bed, although we were also afraid that the other beds might have the same problem, and asked them to clean anything and everyhing in the house, at least - although it is not the ultimate solution to the bed bug problem; chemical treatment is!)