EXTREME NOISE – I am an experienced traveller and accept noise is part of the urban lifestyle. Vibrant is fine however this was on another scale, lasting until beyond 6am both nights stay. I have three videos at 5.15, 5.30 and 6.20am of the crowding at the house entrance, plus pictures. Right outside the house, you will see the doorway is blocked by drugged and drunk revellers, street fighting, illegal alcohol sales from the back of a van, music playing extremely loudly which is heard throughout the apartment including the box bedroom. It is so loud it can be heard with all windows, shutters and doors closed, fans on and ear plugs in.
UNSAFE – The house entrance and in front of it is at the heart of the partying. The apartment key is in a lockbox to the left of the house door on the street. It is completely surrounded by mostly drugged but also drunk revellers, sitting on the doorstep, leaning against the pole with the lockbox. They were fighting, dancing and wandering around in a drug haze in the street; having made enquiries I am now aware there is an increase in muggings in this area. On each corner of the street, either end of the block there are multiple drug dealers constantly pushing drugs at you, cocaine and hash. I would not feel safe entering or leaving the premises with this going on around particularly at that time in the morning (especially if I had suitcases), having to ask drugged revellers to move aside to access the key then the door, and the danger to safety by delays in entering a lockbox combination in close proximity to drugged/drunk aggressive people.
HOST STANDARDS - The listing says “Respect the neigbors and Lisbon Quiet time – From 22:00 to 8:00” – this does not apply to this listing. The listing mentions street noise and I specifically asked until how late it gets noisy. Host indicated they were ‘not sure and the note was just a precaution’ since it is a popular and nice street. This is disingenuous, it was a very weak warning and not transparent if you could review the videos.
I alerted host the morning after our first night that the extreme noise goes on until 6am. We were so exhausted we finally got a few hours sleep when it finished, until around 10am. The host proposed cancelling the second night only if we could exit the apartment within 17-minutes of host’s message (for cleaning reasons) which was not possible or practical. It is worth noting that the apartment was not ready and cleaned for check-in time of 15:00, instead it was after 16:15 so to use that as a lever to put a deadline on cancellation was ironic. In any event after searching there were no suitable alternatives available at this busy time in Lisbon so we stayed. The second night was even worse from a noise perspective but additionally there was a new safety aspect too.
I sent the host a video of the extreme noise and partying which they reviewed but did not have the courtesy to reply.
The host standards need to be improved and if they are to continue on AirBnB they should be transparent about the situation in the listing. Extreme noise until dawn, partying drug area, possible muggings so be alert and aware as you would in any such city environment. At least then guests can make an informed decision. While there was construction noise during the day further along the street (also not listed), this was minor compared to the extreme noise noted here.
It currently is not an accurate listing, we did not have a comfortable reliable stay, the basic need of sleep was denied, the host gave unreasonable time to try to cancel and the host did not even bother to reply to the shocking video of the extreme noise.
APARTMENT – the apartment itself is a three floor walk up. It is charming with some lovely original features (a painted wall, cornice work, floor tiles). One bathroom for six beds could become tiresome and it would help to have a public space mirror (one bedroom and bathroom only). The kitchen is well equipped and the apartment keeps cool during the day.
Summary- While the apartment is lovely, my decision is never to return to this property for noise and safety issues and lack of transparency of host. The experience was disgraceful.