This apartment building is in the perfect location. It's steps away from a giant beautiful fountain and shaded park where people bring their dogs. It's located within walking distance of tons of good restaurants, bars, and shops. We only needed to use cabs a few times while we were there. There was a doorman at our apartment around the clock so it was easy and safe to get in and out. The rooms were decorated nicely -- very old school. Two rooms had small adjoining patios. All rooms had their own bathrooms. The location and place was very nice.
My experience, however, was not great. I booked an entire house for myself and 8 other people for 4 days because we were in town for a wedding. I frequently use airbnb to book lodging for big groups traveling on vacation. I specifically booked this place, and paid a little extra, because it was advertised as being an entire house, with 5 bedrooms, all to ourselves. 4-5 days before we arrived, I received a message from the host that for the 1st night we would only have 4 rooms, but would then have all 5 rooms the rest of our stay. This worried me, but since it was only 1 night and they said they had another room across the street I didn't think much of it. When we arrived, however, we were told that we would NOT have the entire house to ourselves at any point during our stay. Apparently, another person had rented the 5th bedroom "long term," and had been living there for awhile. I booked this place 5 months in advance of our stay, but the host failed to tell me the truth about our accommodations until we arrived and it was too late to find a new place to stay. I was very upset that they did not tell me weeks or months in advance given that I had booked so far in advance. I was even more upset to learn that when they did tell me 4 days before I arrived, they did not tell me the entire truth. By the time we learned we weren't getting what we paid for, it was too late to find new accommodations and the wedding hotel block was full. The host accommodated us by putting one couple in an apartment across the street. It was nice, but not what we paid for. They were disconnected from the group the entire time. The host suggested that to make up for it they would make us a private meal at a great discount -- but we only had one open night for dinner and when we asked later, the host said that we could just get 10% off the restaurant downstairs (which was conveniently owned by the same host).
To make matters worse, 2 days into our stay, I received a note from airbnb that the host was charging me $108 for a broken soap dispenser and a dirty towels/sheets. The first night there my friend accidentally broke the cheap soap dispenser in the bathroom because it was placed on a narrow table and it slid off. They tried to charge me $40 for a $5 dispenser. Then, they wanted to charge us $60 because there was a little bit of makeup on one towel. I received this message while I was at the wedding brunch, and had to leave to meet with the host to dispute the charges. When we met the host, it was a new representative we had not met before who tried to explain that they have to throw towels away when they have makeup on them. Fine, but a small white towel is not worth $60, and the soap dispenser was definitely not worth $40. The representative told us that the cleaning people had been cleaning other apartments they managed and just accidentally added all of the charges to my reservation. To me, this was unacceptable and felt like it might not be the truth. I almost paid the charge because I thought it was in pesos and $5 seemed more reasonable than $100. While we were talking to the representative I mentioned that this was unacceptable, especially given that they misrepresented what we were getting when we booked the "entire house" and feel like we are owed money back. At this time, the representative told me that the owner thinks this is all fine because the other apartment that our 2 friends were staying in was much more expensive. I told him that DOES NOT MATTER because that is not what we paid for. I paid a premium to have an entire house, and instead they gave us one apartment not together. If I order fish, and you bring me a steak but say "it's okay because it's more expensive" that does not make up for the fact that this is NOT what I ordered. It was not until I broke down crying due to frustration that the representative said "I'll see what I can do." A few hours later the host texted saying we didn't have to pay anything extra, but I had already offered $10 for the soap dispenser. My whole experience was ruined and it really made me sad because I take airbnbs very seriously and reviews seriously and felt like I was misled the entire time.