We are a couple that has stayed in so many AirBnBs and hostels around the world, but this experience was pretty bad. There were lot of things that were completely different from the advertised description of this apartment.
Here is a list of things that any person choosing to stay here should be aware of:
- The description said we will be sharing the apartment with the host and a flatmate. That was not true. We saw at least 5 different people when we were there. The room next to us had 3-4 guests who were pretty loud any time they were awake.
- The toilet's flush tank was broken. The host's nephew who gave us the key just said "it works". 2 days into our stay, the toilet would not flush. If it flushed, it wouldn't stop flushing. Every time that evening and night, we had to put our hands into the flush tank and fix the damn thing. It was an utterly disgusting experience.
Also, because of this, the other guests weren't flushing properly, leaving us to walk into a pretty stench filled toilet that we had to flush before using.
- There was no lock on the door of the room we stayed in. We could not lock it from the inside. We could not lock it from the outside. The host replied to our message saying it's safe and he may give us a key to a cabinet inside the room to store valuables. I turned it down and ended up carrying our valuables with us every time we went out. I am not saying it is unsafe. I am saying that we would have appreciated a sense of safety in the place we had to stay in.
- The noise insulation is terrible. Multiple times during our 4 night stay, I had to walk to the other room or common areas around midnight and ask the other people at home to 'Please keep the noise down'. It is one thing for people to talk during the day, but it is unacceptable for guests/host to play loud music and throw dishes around during the night or early morning. I hope to heavens the host lays down ground rules for noise in the apartment for future guests who want to sleep peacefully.
It is fair to say that it was our fault that we did not read all the reviews for the apartment before we booked the place - lesson learned there. Since we got there at the end of our long trip, we did not have the time or energy to find another affordable option for the stay as it was too last minute.
Overall, it was a pretty uncomfortable experience for us and I would not recommend staying here unless you are used to a setting where there is no respect for other sleeping guests, and no clear sense of safety or privacy. This was simply a bad hostel-like experience which cost us way more than what a decent hostel would have.