We arrived at the apartment at 3:00pm where we were greeted with a note saying that the host was out to lunch and would return at 3:00pm. We thought 'perfect, we've arrived right on time'. We waited a further 30 minutes but no host arrived. Finally a kind manager from the restaurant next to the entrance saw our situation and called the host requesting that they come meet us. He advised us that the host would be down momentarily. 30 minutes later the host arrived and took us up to the room where she advised us that the room wouldn't be ready until after 5:00pm. This wasn't a problem but a little surprising as check in was from 2:00pm.
The large room is in an excellent location, with a big bathroom, expresso machine, and a great view of the square.
I must note that this is a hotel room and not someone's apartment.
This was our first time using Airbnb and we had assumed that the listing was for someone's private apartment.
There was a stove top but no pots, pans, utensils, plates etc. The kitchen was therefore not functional. This turned out okay as it was our first time in Rome and we had planned to dine out every night anyway but I could imagine that this could be a huge problem for some.
P.s. Make sure you shower early as we slept in one morning and tried to shower at around 10:00am but there was no hot water left.