This listing is part of a disappointing trend on Airbnb: professionally managed homes. If you, like me, prefer Airbnb for a more personal connection with the host and by extension, the place you are staying, you will be disappointed.
Overall the service was not bad. The young man that greeted us was courteous and polite. However it quickly became clear that he knew very little of the apartment, as it was just one of many that he was responsible for.
The theme the stay was one of misrepresentation and missed expectations:
- Seeing as this was the 3rd leg on a lengthy trip, I had expected to use the washing facilities. There were none, and I had to waste a morning taking my clothes to a launderette, rather than just do it overnight as I had planned.
- Between booking and arriving at the apartment, almost every detail of the listing had changed. The listing originally stated suitability for up to 4 persons. In an apartment with 1 double bed, one would assume that meant a comfy, pullout sofa in the living room. Nope - the sofa was tiny, and the listing had been changed to 2 persons.
- I had booked for 2 people, but only one full-size pillow was provided. The other one was tiny, and when I asked for a new pillow and pillowcase (as the one provided was dirty) they only gave us a new pillowcase.
- I specifically rented this apartment over a few other (cheaper) options for the advertised flexible checkout/checkin. When I arrived, they had modified the listing to have a strict checkout and denied my request to check out even 1 hour later.
Overall, while the stay was decent, I was very disappointed. The misrepresentation of the apartment has left a very bad taste with me, and very I am surprised Airbnb allows "hosts" to change listings with no record in the booking. At the very least, I will be forced to take screenshots the next time I make a booking to prevent these unilateral modifications.