We have stayed in Airbnb’s all over the world and never have had an issue until our stay in this apartment in Trastevere, Rome. We have never written a review to this extent before but felt it was necessary to warn people to stay elsewhere.
The apartment has an extremely strong must/mold odor. We read a couple reviews from previous renters that mentioned this and therefore reached out to the owner prior to our stay regarding our concern. She assured us the apartment had “no unpleasant odor at all!”. When we arrived we noticed the odor, but due to an extremely packed schedule of prepaid tours in Rome we did not make an issue of it and simply tried to air out the apartment since our main purpose for the apartment was a place to sleep. Looking back it was a big mistake for us to not contact the owner immediately as the odor continuously got worse. It turns out the odor was so bad that when we reached our next destination and started to unpack, every single piece of clothing and item that we have on us, now contains the horrible odor. Our toothbrush, our suitcases, my leather purse, all of our clothes, every single thing. This has caused us a HUGE inconvenience and problem that we are still dealing with as we continue our 3 week trip in Italy.
In addition to the bad odor, the apartment was not up our standards of clean. The floors were dusty, the upstairs shower/tub did not drain properly, the espresso machine was filthy, etc. Also the air conditioning was very weak and after running it all day long with closed shutters to keep the sun/heat out, we still would arrive back to a warm apartment. We chose this apartment because it was listed as a “luxury” apartment, so we figured we would pay above the average price for the neighborhood to guarantee us certain amenities. This was definitely not the case.
Upon checkout we contacted the owner with our frustrations and unfortunately she was not helpful nor apologetic. There clearly are continuing issues with this apartment that previous renters have brought up that have not been taken seriously or remedied by the owner.
Long story short: the bad odor, uncleanliness, high price, and lack of professionalism from the owner are all reasons why future renters should take their business elsewhere.