Cristine has a nicely decorated apartment in a brilliant area, a walkable distance from the viewpoint at Sao Pedro de Alcantara and close to good bars, shops and restaurants. The tiling outside is gorgeous, the kitchen is all new and functional and the flat is spacious.

However, there were some problems: upon arrival, we wanted to relax for a moment then get on with exploring Lisbon on a beautiful sunny day. Instead, Cristine didn’t only show us the ropes of the flat (understandable, and didn't take long) but gave us a comprehensive list of things to do. Her advice was intended to be helpful, but we had already done our research on Lisbon, (we had a stack of guide books if not) and were kept indoors for close to an hour while she gave us an itinerary we didn’t ask for. After she left, I got a text message with more tips on and an invitation to review the apartment on TripAdvisor (we’d only just arrived). Combined with the fact Cristine had attempted to add me on my private Facebook page within days of me making the booking, we felt a bit stifled.

As well as a neighbour's sad dog barking loudly in the morning to wake us, there was an awful fishy smell in the apartment throughout our stay, and it was making us feel sick. While we suspected Cristine was aware of this, as the window was wide open upon our arrival, she denied any knowledge of the smell when I texted her to complain. She said it was simply ‘sewage’ and ‘the tides’ and that this happens ‘all over old Lisboa’. When I then said that we weren’t expecting the flat to smell of sewage, and perhaps the smell was down to the shower taking a while to drain, she responded to scold me for having not read the guest book which details, amongst many other things, that the shower drains very slowly.

Anyway, the smell wasn't going, and as it was my partner’s birthday, we simply checked out a day early and went to a brilliant hotel nearby for our last night. My only regret is not doing that sooner!

Checkout involved adding up the kilowatt hours used and tourist tax. As other people have said here, it would be a lot more hospitable and time-saving for the guest if the host simply added an average of these prices onto the flat rate of the apartment.

Cristine clearly cares a lot about her business (this felt much more like a holiday rental rather than a lived-in AirBnB) so I’m sure she will iron out the problems we encountered if she wants to acknowledge them.