We had a nice stay in this apartment, which has the potential to be a 5* experience. However, there were some (major) downsides which unfortunately left us a bit disappointment in the end. We do want to say that the hosts are friendly, communicative and we trust that they, through our suggestions, will be able to upgrade the apartment to its full potential.
Pro's:
- Amazing location and view
- Nice balcony
- Airconditioning in both bedroom and living room
- Washing machine and dryer
- We found the place reasonably clean and tidy
- Proper internet, wi-fi and media equipment (tv)
- Professional hosts who took decent care of checkin, checkout and incidental communication.
Downsides:
- We had some issues in the bathroom (which, according to previous comments, have been going on for some time) which caused (very) bad smells (like an open sewage) and a fairly decent amount of cockroaches.
- Bad smells entered the rest of the apartment as well.
- Complete lack of fresh air circulation in the bathroom which most likely caused the presence of the cockroaches, bad smells and problems with water leakage to the downstairs neighbours.
- These leakage problems had to be taken care of during our stay by a plumber, which was fine and no major inconvenience. The host was clear and communicative about this. Downside however was that when we came back, the bathroom was left in a dirty state and we had to clean the floors ourselves.
- Upon arrival, the shower head was broken and unusable. We bought a new one ourselves the next morning and fixed it that way.
- Lack of a curtain for the shower area in the bathroom, which caused the entire bathroom to get 'flooded' after taking a shower. We bought some extra towels to put on the floor and prevent further deluges. Easily fixed, but not what we expected.
- No vacuum cleaner present. After 9 days, things therefore got a bit dusty and messy.
- The mop for the floor seemed pretty old and was very wet and stinky.
- No dishwasher. Although this amenity wasn't listed and therefore we knew, for this price a dishwasher is no extraordinary luxury.
- No towels present for drying hands and dishes.
- Water cooker is not working properly and needs to get replaced.
- The rug in the living room seemed worn out.
- The 'wallgarden' on the balcony looks very sad and in desperate need of some care.
- The chairs and table in the balcony lost paint and were rusty.
- The general state of the maintenance seemed lacking (floors and skirtings)
- The lights are decent but not very cosy: very bright and white.
- Some more plants would definitely upgrade the feel of the living area.
Apart from the bathroom problems (which were more serious), most of these points can be easily improved and, in our opinion, should be taken care of to justify the pricing for this apartment.
However, we did have a very nice and comfortable stay and enjoyed the amazing view a lot. We rate the place 3* out of 5* for now, with the potential to get to 5*.