Had high hopes for this apartment. Four things I required: good location, elevator for luggage, washing machine, and accommodations for four.
First the good:
1. Location is in a great neighborhood and it’s easy to get around Rome, even through a 2 day taxi strike.
2. The house had plenty of space for my family of four.
Now the bad:
1. Communication with the host was terrible. Non-responsive. Would not answer calls through the app or through direct dial. I found someone who was coming from the apartment building and he called on his phone on my behalf and the host answered. He said he was coming in 20 minutes and instead the housekeeper showed up in 30 minutes to let us in.
2. Check in procedure needs work. Late to let us in the apartment but there are rules about us being on time or being charged extra fees. The walk through was with the housekeeper who couldn’t show me how to use the washing machine or tell me which buzzer rang our apartment. She complained the entire time and yelled at someone on the phone for 30 minutes sitting on the couch. Highly unprofessional.
3. Before we found out the Washing machine was broken i watched a YouTube video on how to use it. I washed a load of laundry. All the clothes were soaking wet and I had to rinse by hand and wring them out. If I knew it was broken I would not have used it.
4. Elevator has issues. We did not know this and my son and I got stuck in the elevator. Someone from the building had to do something and we dropped a floor and then it reset and brought us back to the ground level. If people hadn’t been in the courtyard area and noticed us stuck in not sure what we would have done.
5. Second shower has a broken faucet handle making it difficult to operate. But then it does not drain.
6. Housekeeper entered the home while we were out without our consent. I reported an issue in the kitchen, washing machine, and shower. Plus the elevator, asking when it would be fixed (apartment on 4th floor) and host sent the housekeeper. This time she ranted at what a terrible job the cleaning girl does and how the host and secretary don’t know what’s going on. She said many more things about the family but I just wanted her to leave. She gave me a bottle of rose like it was a supreme gift from the host.
**This apartment has so much potential. I think if the host was a better communicator it would have helped. He should have handled this personally instead of sending his angry housekeeper who is not a good diplomat. When I asked her why the host won’t answer my call she put her fingers to her lips and said for me not to say anything. Strange behavior all around.