I have never written a bad review about any Airbnb that I've stayed in over the years, because I've never had such a terrible experience. I'll start by saying that the apartment was fairly nice. It would be a decent place to stay for a short visit in Lisbon, since it's close to the major areas, but far enough away to avoid the hustle. There is a great park and tons of restaurants and amenities nearby.
Our problems were not really with the apartment, but with the construction in the unit below and how the Host responded. We arrived on a Saturday, which was quiet until Monday when we were woken up to hammering, drilling, sawing and the whole apartment buzzing loudly. We contacted the Host and he assured us that the construction was only 1 day to fix a few things, but the next day the noise continued... on closer inspection of the unit downstairs, it was being completely gutted and re-modeled (new walls, floors, plaster, kitchen etc). Tile and drywall construction dust was pouring out the windows and patio below us and into our apartment, which rendered our outdoor patio useless. We couldn't even open our windows and it was HOT during our stay. We contacted the Host and asked him if he had any other properties he could move us to, or if we could cancel, since the construction was making it impossible to spend any time in this unit... to which he replied NO and NO and told us that the previous guests had no issues, then requested for us to meet in person... as a woman in a foreign country, I did not feel comfortable with this for obvious reasons. Things like this are the EXACT reason that Airbnb suggests your only communicate via the Airbnb app. Besides, what was there to discuss? He had already said NO to everything I proposed. Had the Host disclosed the construction, we would have booked elsewhere. So we were left with few options and decided to contact Airbnb for assistance. They requested photos and videos and agreed that the cancellation was warranted due to noise and health concerns. This is where the real problems started. When Airbnb found us another place, they cancelled the remainder of our reservation and not 5 minutes later the hosts' cleaners showed up (without masks or any PPE) and told us we had to go, even though we still had 2 hours before checkout. When they entered, they proceeded to take pictures of our belongings and our pets, which in my opinion is a privacy breach. So we left quickly, just wanting to out of this bad situation. After checking into our new place, we received a message from the Host requesting 1,000 Euros for damages... The message included pics of "damaged" items that were NOT in the apartment during our stay (THIS IS FRAUD!) and we were able to easily prove it to Airbnb via the pictures and videos that they had requested from us earlier. Thank god Airbnb asked us to take those pics, or we would have had no proof to dispute his ridiculous claim. I cannot recommend this Host, mainly due to the attempted Fraud and failure to disclose the construction. If you must rent from this Host, then I highly suggest that you protect yourself by taking videos and pictures the minute you walk in and walk out of all the high ticket items (mattresses, fridge, cooktop, couch, windows, doors, patio furniture, TV etc...). I have no doubt the Host will write me a disparaging review, as he has done with other guests that have left negative comments, which is a testament to his character. So take what he says with a grain of salt and take the appropriate steps mentioned above to protect yourself so no one else has to get burned and have their holiday ruined like we did.