I will start by saying I am an Airbnb Superhost and that I really love this service and in that spirit I want all Airbnb hosts to be successful. It pains me to give a bad review but in this situation I feel that I must. I came to florence on a spontaneous trip with very little planning. As it was high season for European travelers I had little choice but this looked to be a decent place a bit off the beaten path. And indeed it could’ve been that but the lack of attention to detail was significant. I could’ve gotten over the fact that it was very dark because as well as being dark it was quite quiet which is a priority of mine. What I could not get over was the fact that it was not clean at all. The floors were dirty and the coverings on the couches looked as though they were repurposed pieces of fabric that were thrown over unfinished cushions. I even could’ve gotten over all of that but the next morning I woke and attempted to make myself a cup of tea only to find that the gas had not been turned on and there was no way for me to light the stove. Then when i went to take a shower i found that the water came out at a slow drip and that there was no way to stand underneath it. I needed to take the showerhead off of its fixture and hold it over my head and even then it was a very tiny dribble.
I then attempted to use the hairdryer only to find that it did not fit into any of the outlets except for one which I found after attempting it in numerous other locations.
I had made the reservation for four days and left after rwo. I would have left sooner but as I came in late on the first night I did not have much time to find a suitable alternative. Fortunately with all these problems the host did agree to refund me fully for the remaining two days. The host attributed all of the problems to the fact that there was construction going on in the apartment next-door. Even if that were the case I feel as though someone should have noted that these things were not working And the lack of cleanliness clearly was not related to the construction next-door.
Then, the day that I left, I discovered I had numerous bites on my back, my torso and my arms. I told the host and he suggested that these came from the new place rather than his place. The problem with that is that they appeared before I had ever slept in the bed at my new hotel. So it is impossible that they came from any other place except these accommodations. I have never had any experience with bedbugs before but I can only assume that this is what had bitten me. Which I must say completely freaked me out.
I love Airbnb and the chance for travelers to stay in unusual places that are not standard hotels. But I must say that this experience inclined me to seek a reputable hotel with a quality of service that I had hoped would be something an Airbnb host would adhere to. I write this with the hope that this review will compel the host to consider more care for his guests in the future.