All communications with Maria were efficiently handled. Check- in with Maria's friend Lena was also as promised. However we were never informed before arrival that Maria was going to be on holiday and that we would be totally unhosted. This is not an issue for us if that is what we book but reviews say much about Maria's hosting abilities and that is what we expected. Additionally, we were never informed at check-in that Maria's youngest son was there st the same time and only found out that someone was there from the noises we heard from his room. Maybe he's shy but we never saw him and he never introduced himself. We assumed there was another guest and only found out who it was when Maria's oldest son turned up the following evening from holiday and told us he was hosting us in Maria's absence. We never saw him again before we were scheduled to leave the following morning at 10am. All in all it was a rather surreal experience after 21 hours flying from Perth, after which we were somewhat jet-lagged, which probably didn't help our 'ghost host' experience.
The room itself was perfectly clean and tidy, with a comfortable bed and decent shower and there was a small patio to sit on and also a lounge. We obviously had free use of the kitchen as we were seemingly alone but didn't bother cooking in what is obviously a "cook's kitchen". There was also plentiful coffee for the machine and a few things for breakfast.
After this somewhat surreal introduction to Lisbon, we might well consider booking again but would clarify that a hosted accommodation actually has a real host.