Staying here makes you feel like you are staying with an Aunt who is begrudgingly letting you crash at her place and is constantly in your business, instead of a place you are paying money to rent from a professional host. So if that's what you're looking for, your search is over! Not to mention the fun of her attempted extortion of 400 Euro for "leaving the shower and toilet dirty," as well as the crime of leaving unopened organic food in the fridge presumably for the next guest or her to enjoy (I'm sorry, I don't believe in wasting food).
We chose this listing because it was one of the few with a good location near the museum district and a coffee shop down the block that did not say "no cannabis" in the house rules or description, as many listings did. Cannabis is 100% legal in the Netherlands as I know from staying in Amsterdam 6 times in the past. Yes, 6 times. Not long after smoking OUT ON A BALCONY, I was greeted with a "friendly visit" from the host who treated me very condescendingly as well as informed me now that she has a rule against any use on the property. I ceased to use any cannabis on her property and the next morning when I wanted to smoke I went out to the sidewalk in front of the apartment building. Not halfway through a cigarette I was greeted by another "friendly visit" from Ellen yelling at me and telling me I'm "stinking the whole place up" and that I have to walk further down the road if I want to smoke. I felt very uncomfortable by this point with Ellen acting more like my overbearing aunt and much less like a host. I ceased all smoking anywhere near the property at this point and had to walk several blocks down the street anytime I wanted to smoke, which put a damper on our trip, but this is not even the worst part of this stay.
We were inundated with Ellen's "friendly visits," which is her code for hassling people and being all around unpleasant as well as condescending. She also had two separate contractors show up and attempt to work on the apartment while we were staying there, even after I said no. One showed up and rang the video phone bell for 10 min in the morning, and another on a separate day began sawing right outside our apartment in the hallway also at the crack of dawn.
When we were finally leaving this disaster of a stay we vacuumed the floors, folded the bed sheets, arranged her pillows, wiped down the counters and toilet, as well as neatly bagged all the garbage and placed it near the sink. We assumed that since besides a booking fee, there was a separate cleaning fee included, this should suffice. Not so, when we arrived in Rome the next day we found that Ellen was trying to extort 400.00 Euro extra for "leaving the place a mess." She staged a messy counter top picture by placing all the unopened food from the fridge on the counter top and then claimed we had caused scratches to her wall that were 100% pre-existing (her place had seen better days already before we arrived). She said the "shower and toilet" were a mess. They were certainly used, but by no means unusually so (my wife and I stayed at the apartment for 6 days). I suppose I should have scrubbed them thoroughly before heading to the airport in the morning; silly me, thinking that this was already covered by the CLEANING FEE upon booking that I paid for.
In summary, this whole trip was ruined and overshadowed by Ellen and her unpleasant hosting style. If not for the amazing host we had in Rome this would have been our first and last Airbnb stay. That being said, once we got to Rome and experienced a real, professional host things quickly turned around and the vacation was saved.
This review is sincere and not vengeful in any way. I truly hate to leave anyone such a bad review and will put up with a good deal and keep grinning, but I would be doing my fellow travelers a disservice if I wasn't honest.