Staying at Arnold’s was a terrible experience, compounded by his arrogance and condescending demeanour. Arnold is rude, not helpful and difficult to deal with. Let me assure you that this stay missed the mark on all fronts. There are (many) reasons why Arnold is not a super host.
He offered early check-in in his initial message. When I asked what time I could check in (after arriving from an international flight), he was only able to “try” to provide an early check in of 12:30. I arrived 45 minutes later (1:15) than the early check-in time we had agreed he would “try” for, which was also 45 minutes before check-in time (2) and the suite was not ready. In fact, it had not even started being cleaned yet. Arnold told me “15 minutes” which is remarkable (and disgusting) as there were tenants (one of whom was the housecleaner) living in suite when I arrived, as they were unaware that they needed to move to another one of his apartments that day. Disorganized and unprofessional. Which is extra wild, as Arnold owns the cleaning company as well.
He did not supply hand soap and provided a ridiculous story that “people have different ‘demands’ regarding soap caused by covid so we’ve decided not to supply this anymore. It’s also not mentioned on the listing that this would be available”. Is this guy for real?! You’re telling me that in reference to covid19 you stopped supplying hand soap? In the washroom of the apartment you rent? Are you out of your mind? It’s called hygiene, Arnold. You own a cleaning company. You mention the pandemic. Provide people the means to wash their hands after using the bathroom, or for any reason at all. Arnold suggests I go and buy it for myself, or that so long as I “don’t complain” he can leave some outside my door. I advise Arnold to provide hand soap. The next day he drops shampoo and body wash outside the door. Not great listening skills.
The toilet in his apartment did not work and despite me telling him, he did nothing to fix it. He told me to take the panel off so I can “see the system and pull/push the levers” and that he will check this tomorrow. He also tells me that the cleaner says the flush system worked when she checked it. He does not check it. After two days of dealing with Arnold and AirBnb and getting nowhere I am burnt out. I strategize on how to make do without a flush toilet. For a week. This is the of behaviour of a slum landlord.
But the most concerning part as a solo female traveller happened on night one, while I was messaging Arnold about the toilet. There is a knock at the door. I assume it’s Arnold, here to fix the toilet. There is not a peephole, so I am unable to confirm. I open the door. It is not Arnold. He does not speak English but is trying to enter the apartment. He has a ring of keys and so it seemed like he was planning to enter regardless. I refuse to let him in and after some back and forth I am able to discern that he was living there and left a bag of clothes in a cupboard in the living room. I close the door, retrieve the bag and give it to him. At this point I am now overwhelmed and scared. There is no deadbolt on the door. I feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. Did Arnold know this guy was planning to enter my suite? Why did he not tell me? Regardless, you can’t just give someone keys to all of your suites and have them use those as they like. I should not feel worried about someone coming into the suite, unannounced. This encounter created a huge amount of anxiety for me throughout the week I was there. Every time I heard someone in the hall - and you can hear everything and it sounds like the neighbour is coming right in - I felt like someone was going to enter the suite. I asked AirBnb for assistance and the short story of that is brutal customer service on their behalf.
A few other things to note is that the staircase is steep and has a sharp twist at the top. The suite is on the 3rd floor, not the second. The laundry machine is the loudest washer I have ever used. The walls are thin, so this means you hear the screaming baby, the party below, the people in the hall. You get to hear all of it. The couch is heavily soiled and looks gross. I did not sit on it or put any of my things on it. At the very least, get a couch cover.
The only positive was that the bed was comfortable.
Do yourself a favour and don’t stay here. There are far nicer places with hosts who are much easier to deal with.
I can hardly wait to read what Arnold writes in his defence. If you go through his reviews, you’ll notice a trend in that anytime someone shares a concern or a negative, he attacks or denies. Arnold appears incapable of taking responsibility for his errors. Like I said, avoid!