My friend and I backpacked through Italy and made a stop in Florence. While there we decided to stay at Daniele and Clara's apartment.
The apartment is sectioned into four bedrooms and all rooms are used for the purpose of hosting people. This is great because you get to experience a hostel sort of environment by meeting other travellers staying at the apartment. The apartment itself was clean, well maintained and very comfortable. The room was exactly as advertised and looked identical to the pictures that were posted. It was spacious, clean and well kept with multiple outlets (which is great if you have several devices to charge).
The amenities were fantastic as our stay included air conditioning (which we quickly learned is a plus if you aren't used to the heat), a fridge, a coffee machine and some light breakfast items (cereals, spreads, bread, cookies, etc).
Our only issue with our stay was the customer service experience. We felt that were a few items that Daniele and Clara didn't not handle well.
The first item was we felt pressured upon our arrival and departure. We arrived about 5-10 mins past our agreed time (the train was a few minutes late and we stopped to use the bathroom); however, on our way there we received a text from Clara about 2-3 minutes past our agreed time asking where we were and how long it was going to take us to get there. Upon our departure Daniele showed up to the apartment about an hour before our check out to check on us.
The second item was the security check. Daniele and Clara collect information to perform a background check; however, when we first arrived Clara gave us the option of giving her a photo ID (ie. drivers license) or passport. We elected to give her the information on our drivers license. Late that night they messaged us asking for a copy of our passport because additional information is required for non-Italians. We saw the message the next morning on our way out but were met by Daniele at the front door. We let him know that we didn't feel comfortable having him take pictures of our passports and would rather we write down the information he needed. Daniele refused and told us that this is his general procedure. He even showed us what he called "a mini city" of passport pictures he had on his phone. We decided to cover certain items on our passport and let him take a picture of what is needed for the background check. This was our first time experiencing something like this and didn't like the fact that he is storing the personal information of his guests.