*WARNING! Please read / After having exceptional experiences staying at countless Airbnb properties as well as renting out our own property when we vacation, we finally experienced total upset at Sara’s place. It should be noted, this is our first poor review of a stay and it is definitely not easy to write this. I will start with the major and very concerning issue about our stay. After arriving in the apartment my husband sat down in a dining room chair. He immediately fell through the seat after it collapsed beneath him. He is not heavy (75kg). We soon discovered (after removing the slip cover), that the chairs are old and in poor shape. We notified Sara by text message of the incident / broken chair, but did not have a tone of complaint. Shortly after the chair incident, my ten year old daughter and I opened the armoire doors while looking for a pillow. The door I went to open, opened easily. But when my daughter opened her door, the handle immediately pulled out of the door. It clearly was already broken as it pulled out instantly and easily. But we didn’t think it was such a big deal. The armoire is old and not in perfect shape and we figured it’s part of the charm of an old apartment. It really didn’t bother us. I did not want to bring it up with Sara as I didn’t want to come off as a complainer. I assumed she already knew about it. We left the apartment and followed all instructions for check out and left the apartment tidy. We were also sure to turn off the air conditioner (we both checked this was done!) WARNING....What happened next is every Airbnb guest’s worst nightmare. After our departure it was reported by the owner Sara that we had caused damage to her apartment and would owe her $450! She also messaged us to say we left the air conditioner on (definitely not true) as well as a light on. All of this was totally shocking. We later realized the entire event felt like a set up....broken chair covered in a slip cover, metal door pull loosely inserted in armoire door. ...we were totally being taken advantage of and it felt awful. I did mention in my reply to Sara that a light may have been left on and for that I apologized. We truly couldn’t believe the accusations as they were incomprehensible. This event has really been a huge disappointment but we won’t let it ruin our memories of our time in Rome, a city we love. Please play it safe and choose one of the countless other properties in the neighbourhood. This one is sadly not worth the risk.
During our stay there were other issues that came up, however because we had such a short stay, we just tried to move on and enjoy our time in Rome. Normally I wouldn’t share them all, but because of our sad experience, we feel it’s best all potential guests are well informed. Here is a further summary of more minor issues with the apartment:
-The apartment is dark. It is not nearly as bright as shown in the photos.
-The air conditioner is old and not very strong. It is difficult to work. There is only one and it was located in the bedroom and does not cool the entire apartment. Therefore if anyone is sleeping on the sofa bed in the summer (it was over 35C during our stay), they will be hot at night. As well, the guests in the bedroom won’t have privacy as the bedroom door always needs to be kept open to cool the apartment.
- A lot of furniture is old and in rough shape. The newer furniture feels cheap. A lot of the furniture does not feel very clean.
-Bedding is not what you would expect from a plus property (polyester covers).
-Bathroom is old and dated.
-The building hallway (staircase) is almost pitch black at night and can only be lit once you reach the apartment door upstairs.
-Sara’s fill in host (person who initially opens the apartment) when she is away does not speak any English and therefore could not relay any pertinent information. She was not waiting for us outside the building when we arrived (on time), but rather was inside the suite and we had no idea which suite she was in. We waited for half an hour and then entered the building when another random person unlocked it and proceeded to locate the unit without any information. It was a difficult check in process.
-Laundry soap is not provided (we searched everywhere).
-The apartment smells musty.
And now for a few positives:
-The mattress in the bedroom is comfortable.
-The neighbourhood is authentic and lively in the evenings.
-Sara replied to texts well during the booking process