The house is beautiful with a nice terrace and big windows, the bed was comfortable, and the location was good. La Kalsa is near the train station, La Cala, the historical center, and has a couple of grocery stores within a reasonable walking distance. The other two ladies staying in the house were also lovely people and really fun and interesting to talk to.
However, I didn’t feel that the ad for the room was accurate enough for me to have made an informed decision about staying in the house, which led to stress and conflict with the owner. The ad says that there is air conditioning. But the room I was in did not have working air conditioning when I got there. In fact, the only working air conditioning was in the living room, but the owner was very concerned about that air conditioning being used. She made it clear that she didn’t like air conditioning and that it was too expensive, and she made one feel guilty for using it. The summers are hot in Palermo and when I was looking for an airbnb, I filtered for air conditioning. Since it was listed as an amenity, I assumed the room I was renting would have it. (I will be sure to ask in the future.). When I complained, I was told that if I wanted air conditioning, I would have to find someone to repair it, and pay to have it repaired. She said that I should decide how much it was worth to me. She said she « may » pay for it if it was a reasonable price to fix. (Mind you, this is in Palermo in August.), but I started trying to find a repair person.
Then, construction started on the building next door. Jack hammering was happening starting at 7am. I was jet-lagged and not sleeping well because of the heat, so waking up at 7am was pretty awful. At this point, I asked the owner to let me out of the month rental, charge me a pro-rated amount for the days I had been there and let me find another place. She said she couldn’t do that because she wouldn’t be able to find anyone else to rent it that quickly. The construction apparently has been on-going off and on for the past two years. You might get lucky and be there when there is none, or you might not.
At this point I decided I needed to make the best of it and I asked friends to help me find someone to repair the air conditioning and set my mind to getting to bed early so I would be able to get up at 7am. After two weeks of sleeping with ice packs, wet towels, and a fan, I finally got a guy to come fix the air conditioning. It was a simple fix and he only charged me 50 euros thankfully. The owner never mentioned paying me back for that. She only said that now that it was working she was worried I would use the air conditioning too much because I « like to sleep until 1pm » and that she might need to charge me extra for the electricity. I assured her that I could not sleep past 7am because of the construction noise so she needn’t worry about that.
I am not posting any of this to be vindictive. The owner, in general, seems to be a nice person. I think it is only fair, however, that people who are trying to have a vacation or a pleasant cultural experience know what they are getting themselves into. Not being able to sleep pretty much ruined half of my stay in Palermo.
The house situation is also particular, and would not be a good fit for everyone. Things are shared and private space is not really private. I had the bigger room with the stairs to the roof terrace in it. That meant that the other women in the house went through my room to get to the terrace. I really liked the two women, but I thought that was an unusual situation. The owner also asked all of us in the house to take care of her many plants. I was ok with that, but again, not your average Airbnb situation. Also, I was asked to make sure that all supplies I used in the house were replaced, so I ended up buying laundry detergent, olive oil, and toilet paper for the whole house. It was ok, but again, better to know ahead of time. I’ve stayed in many other Airbnbs for month long (or more) stays where most of these things were provided, or at least you weren’t expected to replace what you’d used, but because the house is shared with other people who are renting outside of Airbnb, it’s more like a regular roommate situation.