The quality of the accommodation doesn’t match the photos provided in the listing. There were many broken fixtures and items - a drain in the bathroom floor is taped up (presumably to combat the sewage smell that other reviews have pointed out), several of the electric sockets are taped up, missing lightbulbs, the shower curtain is held up by tape, there is exposed electrical wiring, a bad smell in the back bedroom, and cracked kitchen appliances. It looks and feels like the apartment has been furnished in the cheapest possible way with no thought given to comfort or design. It is a shame and makes the accommodation overpriced due to its poor quality. The building is interesting and the area is beautiful. However, the surrounding streets were very busy - the nights are not peaceful as the roads are loud; consider bringing earplugs.
As other reviewers have noted, we experienced some awkward communication with the host. We received instructions that said we should check in at 3pm. There was nothing in the instructions to ask for our arrival time. I texted Maddie on the number provided to request an earlier check in but she did not respond to that text so we waited until it was the right time to go inside. However, the place was not clean. There were dirty towels everywhere, a mess in the kitchen and bathroom - altogether a very unwelcoming sight and impression. If she needed more time to clean beyond the agreed check in then she should have contacted us in advance.
Maddie sent emails via the Airbnb messaging service to say that a friend was ‘in the flat cleaning’ at the very moment WE were in the flat, so it was clearly not the truth and quite a strange message to send. We informed her when we had gone out and asked her to let us know what her plans were to clean the place. She responded hours later and then sent a friend inside to clean without checking with us. This made us a bit uncomfortable. We asked how long the friend would be inside but she never responded to this question. It would have been a more friendly approach to simply give us a ring to apologise, explain the situation and agree with us on how to fix it. Instead, Maddie blamed us for ‘not communicating our check in time’ - but again, this was not clear by the listing. We requested a refund of the cleaning fee + 10% which Maddie agreed to.
It’s impossible to have a bad time in Lisbon, so thankfully our experience in the accommodation did not affect how we loved the city. But it is a shame that in one of Lisbon’s most historic and beautiful areas, there is a place like this that feels so uncared for. It felt like the only aim was to extract as much money as possible from the guests without any real sense of enjoyment or enthusiasm for providing hospitality.