I do not recommend staying with Bed&Bros. Before the trip we were so excited to stay in one of their beautiful properties in Ortigia. The host (who, importantly, only manages the property) arranged a taxi to pick my group up from our early morning flight to the airport. He knew we would be arriving around 9am or so and offered for us to leave our bags before we could check in later that day. We were given a phone number to contact with any queries and also were instructed to ring the doorbell when we arrived. We followed the host’s instructions to the letter and were told that one of his associates (we think the neighbor?) would let us in to drop our bags. The host’s representative let us into the flat itself to drop off our bags but seemed stressed and insisted that we be quiet and leave the flat as quickly as possible. We later learned that the group staying in the flat before us was still in the property, which is why the host’s representative quickly pushed us out. When we contacted the host — both on Airbnb and at the number on the listing — to sort out when we could actually check into the property, we were accused by the building’s owner (with whom we had never communicated) of breaking Italian law by trespassing. She described our actions as shameful and said that she had reported us. We were obviously confused so reached out to the host on the Airbnb app asking for an explanation. None was given. The building owner said that we could keep the reservation but then threatened legal action. We had to return to the property to get our bags and sort out a new plan, so we followed her instructions to ring the bell and find the keys (they were literally in the lock) to check into the property ourselves. Things got even weirder when a neighbor angrily forced his way into the property to “fix his wifi” (we had apparently unplugged it). We asked him to leave. This whole time — when we were hoping to be settling in — the building owner was staring menacingly into our flat from across the courtyard.
This was honestly the worst Airbnb experience I have ever had. Never did I expect to be accused of a serious crime in a foreign country by a host who gave us clear check-in instructions, which we followed. Never did I imagine that my Airbnb would be invaded by a random neighbor. Never did I think that I would feel so unsafe in an Airbnb property.
It is unclear to me what the relationship between the host and building owner is. It is also unclear why the neighbor has access to the flat. The entire check-in process was so unsettling and scary that we left after getting our bags and found a local hotel for the weekend. Avoid if you can!