We have very mixed feelings about this stay. Even before we arrived we felt that both hosts (property managers, not local owners) are very impatient and impersonal with questions and extremely unfriendly in communication, something very different from the typical airbnb community experience we value.
This lack of compassion continued upon check in when we had some questions related to entering the premises and accessing the wifi for example. The communication was simply unkind. During our stay we encountered one occasion where we were having a regular bedtime conversation just before sleeping (midnight) and the upstair neighbor aggressively knocked on the ceiling to signal to keep quiet. The insulation must therefore be very poor. The property manager responded that this was normal and we should keep quiet in the evenings. Knowing that (up to 5) people come here to travel (we were only 2) it is not fair to expect us to be completely silent every time we are home after a day of exploring town. This experience ruined the rest of the stay for us as we always felt like we had to be on high alert when inside the apartment. I think this makes this property unfit for short-stay airbnb purposes.
About the property itself:
We visited in September and there was no airconditioning. We expected it to be OK as there are not many windows and outside of the hot summer months, but it was still extremely hot and humid inside. There is a dehumidifier but despite that it never cooled down and it remained humid to a point of extreme discomfort on warmer days.
The bathroom flooded every time we showered and the water would take the whole day to evaporate which is very inconvenient as it is very tight and you keep stepping in the water. There are no power plugs in the bathroom or near the mirror so using electrical bathroom tools is not practical.
The general space is nicely furnished though and especially the kitchen is really nice although we never used it. For two to three people it is a good sized space, but I can’t imagine 5 people staying here and would not recommend that. We also liked the separation in the bedroom which makes it feel like there are 2 separate rooms which is why I think a third person would fit easily.
In terms of location, it is a really nice and quiet end of Alfama and technically you would be able to walk all the way into town. For public transportation (especially metro) the location is inconvenient so we used Bolt taxis for everything.