There were a number of very good and, unfortunately, a couple of very bad things with our recent stay at this property.
On the positive side, Christina's place is right in the heart of the wonderful and peaceful Principe Real section of Lisbon, and there are many wonderful restaurants, bars, parks and shops nearby to enjoy. Also, Christina's place is super clean and very nicely decorated. Christina clearly has a nice sense of style when it comes to home furnishing. We didn't eat any meals in the apartment, but the kitchen seemed to be well equipped with all the usual items one would need to prepare and enjoy meals. All of the appliances were in proper working order, and the shower had very good water pressure and temperature control. The WiFi was very good. Potential renters should be aware though that no TV is provided in this unit.
On the negative side, we were surprised that one of the two bedrooms, the smaller bedroom, was locked upon our arrival. The property had been advertised to us as a two-bedroom unit, but only one bedroom was available to us during our stay. Furthermore, Christina refused to make the second bedroom available to us once we pointed out that it had been locked. We had previously indicated to Christina that we were a couple and would be sharing a bed--though we thought the question itself to be a bit distasteful--and Christina took that information to mean that we would not need the second room and locked it! Christina did not realize that a second bedroom is quite useful to a couple traveling even if it would not necessarily be used for sleeping. In any case, a two-bedroom rental should be just that, a two bedroom rental, and we were disappointed with the unprofessional bait-and-switch and the owner's subsequent refusal to make the second bedroom available to us.
There was one other problem. The owner provided us with only one set of keys. On that one key ring is an unremovable key that needs to be inserted into a wall box inside the apartment to allow for the electricity to go on inside in the apartment. When a patron leaves with the key, the electricity key must be removed from the box and the electricity in the entire apartment (except for a portion of the kitchen and an entrance light) goes off. This means that if two people are renting the place and if one person stay inside the apartment and one leaves with the key, the one inside the apartment is left without virtually no electricity, lights, internet, etc., in the apartment. We asked Christina, as a result of this situation, to provide a second set of keys. Our request was denied, saying that we should leave the keys in the lock box when we leave the apartment. But doing so, requires a tedious extra effort of key coordination between the guests staying at the apartment. More importantly, leaving keys in an exterior lock box while we are outside the apartment raises a concern about potential theft and burglary. After all, we have no idea how many people have access to the current code on the lock box. We were not asked to provide the lock box entry code ourselves, we were just given the code a day or two before check-in.
Overall, we have mixed feelings about this AirBnB. On one hand the place was very comfy and afforded us an opportunity to explore some of the best parts of the city on foot. On the other hand, short-sighted policies in place by the owner and a lack of willingness on the part of the owner to address our very reasonable concerns, kept us from truly enjoying our stay.