Let me preface by saying Lisbon is one of the few places in the world I return to over and over again and that my airbnb experience throughout the years has been 99% pleasant. I’m from another country, and because of that, cellphones can be an issue. When I realized I would not be making the check in time window I had set because of a flight delay I was unable to immediately respond. I did however have a chance w/ WiFi and let the management team know I would be late. When we arrived I was greeted with hostility and sarcasm by one of the management employees (Yes, this a familiar situation in Lisbon now where you aren’t actually staying with a host or a hosts official home but instead its operated through a host by a management company. This is probably why housing is becoming more difficult to find in Lisbon). It was a sad way to be treated after a long time traveling but I explained I had messaged the company hours before. He didn’t care and insisted we were screwing up his schedule. To be fair after 15 minutes of being rude and before the conversation ended he apologized and explained that’s just how Portuguese people interacted. Great.
Now to the space: It smelled like someone soiled themselves, put it in a bag and hid it in the apartment. Each time we would come home it stunk worse than the time before. We couldn’t figure it out. Could it be clogged pipes? Mold? A hidden trash can? Who knows. We would open all the windows before bed (terrible option because Lisbon is a festive city and can remain loud all night) but to our surprise, the smell would remain.
Now that I’ve vented all my disappointments with the apartment I can say: this doesn’t change my feelings towards Lisbon at all. The apartment is in a great neighborhood, It can accommodate up to 4 people (though 2 felt like enough), the windows had great views and the city is easily accessible from home. But alas, the little things can add up. After all, this is a hospitality app ;)