This place has a lot of potential. The apartment in the pictures seems great. Unfortunately, we felt a bit catfished. The apartment looks fresh and clean in the pictures, however the apartment wasn't as nice in person. Kind of like someone using a picture of themselves on a dating site when they were younger, in better shape and much more attractive--only to show up to the date without having showered, 20 pounds heavier and 30 minutes late.
We only met Joao briefly. He was 30 minutes late to check us in and we had to wait in the alley for him with all of our luggage. That being said, he seems like a kind, charming man. We enjoyed our stay, but there were many issues that left us feeling like the apartment was not as described. First of all, the apartment was not the same as in pictures. The couch is ripped up. There is no rug. There were no cushions on the chairs at the dining room table as shown in the pictures. A baby bed was provided, but there was no sheet for it. Every single Airbnb we stayed at that has listed a crib as available also provided a sheet, not having a sheet would be like a room with only a mattress for an adult. Speaking of mattress, the beds were very old and uncomfortable. When we went to do laundry we realized that there was no detergent and we had to go buy some (we left it so that the next guest wouldn't have to worry about it, but that shouldn't be our responsibility). When we went to dry the clothes we realized that there were only 4 clothespins and the line was completely rusted and would have stained our clothes if we used it, so we had to hang our laundry all over the house. The first 4 glasses that we pulled from the cupboard were dirty. It felt like the kitchen hadn't been thoroughly cleaned. The wine opener is badly broken, completely unusable. There was a coffee maker, but no filters so we would have had to buy a bunch of filters to make coffee--that is not the responsibility of the renter. There were no trash bag replacements so we didn't have anywhere to put our trash after we filled the bins and had to find bags from the store to use. The shower was dirty and hadn't been cleaned before we arrived. These issues made our stay quite difficult.