Nice aspects of this listing:
- Included hair dryer, shampoo, conditioner and soap
- The host left us some cookies and such, which helped a lot the day we arrived.
- There were cooking basics, like salt, oil, and sugar.
- The flat is nice, it has a patio
- There's a supermarket and some shops near by
Not so nice aspects:
- As you may know, it's not so close to the center of Rome, which maybe in another city wouldn't be a problem. In Rome however, we found that public transportation is not as reliable as in other cities of Europe, and it's quite slow. It will take you at least an hour to get somewhere interesting. Not the fault of the listing, but something to consider. If you own a car, this wouldn't of course affect you.
- The smell. The apartment has a weird smell. The first thing we did everyday since we checked in was to open all windows to air it.
- The shower leaks. After taking a shower, we'd find water in the living room, next to the bathroom, but the bathroom floor was dry. We thought maybe there's a leak under the wall that connects the two spaces.
- No internet connection. If you're traveling for business or expect to use Netflix (or anything) beware. We were without an internet connection from day one, until the day before we checked out (aprox 5 days). We paid money from our pockets to have some sort of connection those days.
- The check-in experience: We were urged to provide an exact time of arrival because the hosts wanted to receive us in person and said "they didn't have employees to receive us at any time". We didn't initially know the time of our arrival, because we had to take two buses and two trains plus public transport in Rome to arrive. We ended up paying a taxi to take us, so that we could confirm an exact time to the host. Then, at the last minute the host told us to check in using the lock-box because he had a family emergency. Of course we can understand that. What I can't understand is why they didn't offer the option to check-in via lockbox from the beginning. We ended up spending a lot of money, which could have been avoided. Not everyone needs/wants to be greeted in person, especially when there's already another option to check-in available.