It started with a message in Dutch the day before we arrived telling us that the owner had gone on a sudden holiday and giving us a code for the key that would be in a keybox. This When we arrived, there was no key in the box so we rang the doorbell and a couple answered the door and informed us that they were staying there. They showed us their reservation which was for the same place. They had also received the the same message and the same code.
I had to telephone the owner and she explained that the other people were in the wrong apartment. So they had to move. If they had been out, it would have been problematic.
The house is in fact the ground floor of a house. The only windows are at the very front - one for the kitchen and two for the main bedroom. They are heavily frosted with thick net curtains so very little natural light comes in. There are no other windows anywhere - not in the bathroom or the living room although the living room has a skylight. The actual lights in the house are very few so it feels dark and gloomy. At the back there is a solid fire door which cannot be opened without breaking a glass box to get the key. So the whole place felt a bit like a prison.
The second bedroom is actually a large closet for the first bedroom only accessible from the first bedroom and shut off only by a curtain (again no windows in there) - so there is no privacy. There is one set of drawers for everyone and no wardrobe. There are no coat hangers although there is a free standing coat rack.
My daughter described the smell as "stale cigarettes and neglect'. Because of the lack of windows there is no air circulation. The toilet is in the main bathroom (again no windows) and the toilet section doesn't have it's own door. The extractor fan above the toilet doesn't work.
This was the most depressing airbnb place I have stayed in and was vastly overpriced. There was nothing in the way of any welcome information - we had to search for the wifi code - and any questions we asked via text were answered quickly but in a very matter of fact way. This could have been a language issue. We certainly didn't feel welcome.
If I hadn't stayed i some really nice places (including 2 in the past in Rotterdam) with lovely friendly hosts, I would have a very bad impression of airbnb as a concept. Fortunately this experience was a one off - but don't let it be your one-off. Avoid this place.