This trip to Italy was my first Airbnb experience, though both of my girls use the service all the time. We stayed in an Airbnb in Positano before arriving in Rome, and it was absolutely wonderful. I expected this would be the same, and sadly, it was not.
The communication up until the day of arrival was great. Very prompt replies from Lorenzo answering questions, providing guidance, etc. Upon arriving in Rome though, that all changed. I booked a car to pick us up at the Rome train station through the link Lorenzo sent me (Rome Loft - I believe they own this property, and many others). I had to include our arrival and train information in the reservation, and I did that. I also followed the instructions and sent notification through WhatsApp when we arrived at the Rome train station. I continued to send updates of progress. When we arrived at the apartment, Marvan was not there to meet us. The driver phoned him, and he said he’d be 10 minutes. That turned into 30 minutes. We were in an alley full of graffiti in 90 degree heat with all of our bags, waiting half an hour for Marvan to arrive. I had also emailed Lorenzo asking for help, and he didn’t even reply until the following afternoon. Very disappointing.
We finally got the bags upstairs (very steep spiral staircase to the fourth floor), turned on the air conditioners, and headed out to dinner. Within an hour of arriving back at the apartment, all of the electricity went out. We attempted to follow the instructions from Marvan to reset the breakers (two boxes - one in the apartment, and one in the ground floor lobby), but ended up having to call him at midnight. I will give him credit for answering at that hour.
The air conditioning in the top bedroom turns itself off everyday. After a day of sightseeing, you’ll come back to a very warm room. The unit in the living room barely works, and can’t seem to keep up with the heat. The company clearly needs to spend the money to upgrade the electric. There is not enough power going into the apartment, and the breaker boxes are overloaded.
The apartment was not clean. There is mold in the grout of the shower drains, the glasses and dishes in the cabinets were dirty, and a pair of filthy pants from what I assume was a previous guest, was found in one of the bedrooms. In the top floor bathroom attached to the top floor bedroom, the water in the shower doesn’t drain well. The drain needs to be snaked for sure, as you stand in inches of water while showering. There are also small bugs flying around in the shower.
There were barely basics to get started - no napkins, paper towels, hand soap, etc. The television does not work. We didn’t expect cable, but we were told it was a smart television, and we could sign into Netflix and the like. That didn’t seem to be accurate. We were asked to water, and try to revive all of the dead plants on the terrace. I don’t water my plants at home - I’m definitely not doing it on vacation.
The layout of this apartment would be very bad for someone with mobility issues. Inside the apartment are steep stairs to both the loft and the upstairs bedroom/bathroom. Within the apartment, there are small steps that are easily tripped over between rooms.
Overall, a very disappointing stay.