Maja’s place was a good size and in a nice location. However, I did not anticipate that this listing was being treated more like a “home swap” than the typical Airbnb listings I’m used to. The expectation to water their plants and check their mail caught me by surprise. I also assumed that there would be closet space to use since I was staying there for a month. Instead, the entire closet, most storage space, and a good portion of the refrigerator/freezer was taken up by the host’s day-to-day things which meant that this felt much more like a “live out of your suitcase in someone else’s space” experience than I’d hoped for. This is not necessarily a problem as long as expectations are set ahead of time. However, I was assuming it was closer to the Airbnb experiences I’ve had in the past where it’s a continuously rented unit and I think it would have factored into my decision had I known upfront. I was there for work and did not need additional house-sitting chores on my plate.
The fact that this isn’t your typical professional host situation got us off on the wrong foot. Maja reached out beforehand to ask when I’d arrive. I assumed this was to organize logistics such as planning the cleaning service etc. So when our arrival was delayed due to some unexpected challenges that morning, I did not think to notify Maja first. Unfortunately, she was personally waiting to check us in personally so was annoyed that we were running late. This caused more anxiety on top of our already stressful morning and so we skipped lunch to race straight to her place in order to avoid delaying her travel plans further. Once there, we were taken on an extended tour of how to live in her house without breaking things.
In terms of listing accuracy, there were a few things that I’d like to call out:
- Amenities include “Shampoo, Conditioner, Body soap, Shower gel” and none were available. We had to go buy these supplies on the first day right after checking in.
- Bath towels were available, but pretty worn and a few were stained.
- Egyptian cotton linens: I don’t know what the official definition is, but they were not what I picture when I hear that phrase. They had the texture of a terry cloth towel.
- Iron: did not find one. Perhaps it was in there somewhere.
- Free weights: Did not find those either.
- Outlet covers: Didn’t see them. We used most outlets freely without needing to remove any outlet covers.
- Portable fans: While I didn’t actively look for some of the other things, we went on a veritable scavenger hunt for a fan during the Great Heatwave of Central Europe that pushed temperatures to a miserable 40C. There were no fans to be found.
- Wifi: it was available most of the time, but was down frequently and for the entire morning of the first day leaving me unable to do work which was not a great impression on my company that sent me here.
- Refrigerator/Freezer: Yes, it’s available, but most of the space was taken up with their food. We were given 1 shelf in the freezer and about 1/2 of the fridge space.
- Blender: Didn’t see one.
- Barbecue grill and utensils: was explicitly asked not to use it.
- Self check-in & lockbox - Not available. Was required to plan arrival time in order to meet up and get a physical key. Having one physical key also limits the flexibility of multiple people freely coming and going. It requires additional planning of schedules to ensure the person who will be home first has the key.
- Roof deck: the listing touts this as a huge amenity and shows a photo of a nice dinner up there. While I’m sure this is possible, the way you climb steep steps and open a heavy door to get up there made it unrealistic for us to get dishes and food up there. Also, the number of instructions given to us to avoid breaking the door made it just feel not worth trying to use it at all. That was a huge disappointment as it was one of the things I was most looking forward to about this listing.
There were a few other things that just caused general inconvenience.
- The second bed was a futon that the host mentioned was already on its last legs so we should not try to fold it up to create more space. We did not, but it seems that it was already broken on arrival. The first night, one of my daughters fell through as the supports underneath were missing and the mattress sank through to the floor.
- There was a broken tile in the bathroom near the string you pull to turn the light on. My other daughter reached for the string in the dark and sliced her finger open on the sharp broken tile.
- I had to excuse myself from a meeting to answer the door and sign for one of the host's packages in the middle of the day.
- The curtains fell down just by trying to use them appropriately - pulling the drawstring to open/close them.
- The toilet paper holder and some shelving was attached by suction cups that would not stay stuck to the wall so we were constantly picking things up and trying to restick them until we just gave up.