We have not had a chance to meet the host in person until the last day when I had to meet her up to pick up my stuff that was left behind. While we were staying the host was travelling out of town so responses were slow and not very time sensitive.
If you are travelling from USA or other countries where you can leave your door closed and don't have to worry about the door gets locked up itself, make sure you carry the house key at all times with you even when you just walk few steps out of the door. One night I went one floor down to open the gate for the rest of my group to come in, the front door latched and locked from inside. I did not have keys with me, (none of our group knew that the door automatically locked when closed, and were not informed by the host until then)
and we were locked out at 11 o'clock at night. My 5 years old daughter was sleeping in the bedroom. We messaged the host through AirB&B, emails, texts and phone calls but we didn't get any response until the next day morning. Well, we had a traumatic hour trying everything to wake up my little child and eventually she woke up startled, and managed to open the door for us, but to this day I can't stop imagining the worse situation ot could have been. The host's later responses were "We people sleep at late night like that in Italy" and "All doors in Italy are like that so no need to inform guests", and lectures like "Be more attentive! In Italy, you have to have good memory"
Oh well. In Italy. When in Rome. Right?
However, I coming from a tech-savvy background made another same mistake with the classic door on the day of leaving. We used the private driver that we booked through the host(paid 60 euros per ride) and when we were about to leave by the car I realized my fanny with the most important stuff including passports was still in the house. It was 4am and I guess my brain was still asleep. Hoped that the host picked up her phone since her guests(us) were using her service(driver) at the moment, the driver called her a buncha times but she did not answer the phone. Obviously, Italians slept at night except the driver. I do not know how she handles if her guests encounter any problem with the ride or the driver.
I had to change our flight tickets to the following day and get a place to stay for the night, because I still had to meet the host and pick up my stuff after she got up and saw my messages. She came to the house to open the door for me later in the morning(she did not forget to enlighten me by saying "be grateful" that I could still get my stuff back). At last, I asked her to send me a private driver for the next morning to my new stay, because she had the same amount of money she was going to refund me for one canceled ride we had during our stay. She confirmed the ride and told me to be ready for the driver by 3:45am. So I and my 5 yo girl did wait for the driver on the dark street from 3:40am the next morning. The driver did not show up, and by that time I knew that the host wouldn't respond if I call or message, so I just looked for a cab. Fortunately I managed to grap a taxi via MyTaxi app, and got to the airport on time. I wrote her about the situation as soon as I got in the airport. She verified two day later that her driver "made a mistake". Not a single "I am sorry" in the intire time I was communicating with her. I am not grateful for that kind of host at all.
This was my experience. Except the unpleasant communication with the host, the aprtment was comfy, location was good enough, neighborhood was quiet. But it was pretty traumatizing in a way, that I had nobody when I need help so far away from home. My previous AirB&B stays were never like this.
Thanks for reading my long vent. Just..... carry your key with you and don't expect the host to answer your late night emergency calls, then you will be fine.