First I must say that the location is great and Susana is really nice. My girlfriend and I were quite excited about having so much space, in that part of Roma Norte and for 2 1/2 months. We met with Susana and she showed us around the place and was very very nice. The house isn't very modern and neither are the amenities, it was a little unkept but all in all it was fine and had a lot of character. After unpacking I discovered that there was a really big spot of mold growing out of the ceiling in the third bedroom. About a foot in diameter. It was black and dark gray and quite hairy. I immediately notified Susana about it and she said that it was fine, they had a leak in the ceiling but they just hadn't painted over it. Quite surprised baby her nonchalant reaction to it, I told her that breathing in mold is very toxic and dangerous and just painting over it wouldn't resolve the issue. I also asked, if she that's all she thought she needed to do then why didn't she do it? To which she said, "It's fine. It's not in your room". The mold was way too big for it to be a new problem. Clearly it had been growing for quite some time. When we told her we weren't comfortable sleeping there that night and definitely not for the duration of our booking (2.5 months) she responded again that it was fine because it wasn't "in our bedroom." I began to explain to her that the pores from the mold float in the air so it didn't matter if we were sleeping that room or not, we were still breathing it in.
At this point, she became quite defensive and proclaimed that there was not any mold in her home. Though it very, very clearly was. I wish I could add pics to this posting. Feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to see them.
Needless to say, we left just hours after checking in and I reported it to AirBnB. I was able to send them pics and they didn't hesitate to issue a full refund. I told them though she is listed as a Super Host, this particular listing was anything but.
Susana is very nice, fluent in English and the place is a great location. It was really too bad it didn't work out and that her place was, perhaps still isn't, in living condition shape. What's even more disappointing was her dismissive and denial attitude about it all. The only thing I can imagine is that she doesn't understand just how dangerous mold is. As I write this review, it's about 2 weeks ago from this happening. I doubt she's removed the wood in the ceiling from which the mold was growing from so though I reported to AirBnB be fair warned and make certain to check everywhere for mold. Especially the third bedroom.