Ok so let’s start with the positives as there were “some”
The apartment was centrally located, new and beautifully decorated, nice little outdoor space. Everything to lure someone in to renting it.
CONS because there were many
One - Unless you are one of those people who don’t need sleep or sleep like a log DO NOT rent here. We arrived and were greeted by our host, he mentioned there would be noise from cars passing by as it is on the first floor and a busy street. That doesn’t bother us as we are used to noise. We travel very often and our kids sleep through anything. We just arrived and were in a rush to settle in and don’t notice until we put them to bed and we notice a loud *bang bang* noise every 20 seconds or so. My husband goes to take a look outside to check if it’s from construction or someone renovating their home to notice that there is a SEWAGE hole right in front of the apartment which happens to be in front of the main bedrooms right there. No worries we figured there’s two other bedrooms and put our kids to sleep in the one downstairs only to realize the banging resonates throughout the entire apartment and can be heard all day and all night! The host did not list this in the listing nor did he once apologize about it or try to find us an alternative apartment amongst the other 120 apartments they manage.
Second CON - one of the main bedroom doesn’t have curtains so at night all the lights from passing cars as well as all the people walking by can be seen. We mentioned this and it was just ignored, we had to move one of the mirrors in front of the window in attempts to help.
Third CON - On our 7th night of our 9 nights here of NO FULL night of rest we come back from dinner and my son screams from seeing a mouse. It goes running and we figured it went out the patio door only to see it again 15 mins later while we are having dinner. After being scared from all of us screaming it runs and hides under the dishwasher. I make my husband open it up to realize the sewage pipe entrance is not covered therefore allowing an entrance to mice entering the apartment. We then later found mouse droppings all over the bed in the bedroom downstairs as well as the carpet. My son got sick the night after and was vomiting so I’m unsure if it is related.
Fourth CON - the water heater which apparently was supposed to be fixed before we arrived was leaking and created water damages to the floor causing it to lift.
We left with a feeling of being ripped off, unrested and frustrated. The main reason you rent an apartment is to be able to sleep, to relax while on holiday. We were hoping for an Airbnb to ease us into the transition of moving to Lisbon and we got nothing but a stressful stay. We felt as though the host did not care and to be honest greedy as they did not want to provide any solution when there were clearly other apartments available that they manage.
Other little cons that wouldn’t be so bad but given the situation just added fuel to the fire; NO hairdryer, NO laundry detergent, NO basic kitchen condiments such as sugar, oil, vinegar. The kitchen lacks storage space and the pots and pans are in the oven therefore making it really hard to cook.
We will NOT be recommending this company to anyone and will NOT be renting from them again. The representative that greeted us did what he could but for major Issues he would just tell us to contact the company which ignored us the entire stay.
AVOID!