I’ve being staying solely in airbnb’s for the past year or so. After spending over $40K on accomodation in Hawaii, LA, Palm Springs, Bali, Thailand, Auckland, Queenstown and Wellington I have some experience with, what are supposed to be, some of the nicer places to stay. I love it when I find a place that really ticks the boxes. Looks good, clean, spacious and everything works … like the wi-fi, the laundry, the kitchen, the shower, the beds, quiet and private … the things we all like to have right … it’s not that hard.
My view is that all these things should be right in the first place. Any host that says we should have informed them so that they could have responded are living in the dark ages. Who wants to spend over $5000 on staying at an airbnb and then have to complain and then arrange times to have various cleaners and tradespeople come over ? Either get these (simple and inexpensive) things right to start with, or face complaints.
So, that said, here are my pro’s and con’s for this place.
The pro’s
Great location with nice views down on the water front. It’s private and actually fairly quiet given the downtown location and it’s pretty big. We really enjoyed heading to Euro for lunch and dinner, and discovering new places in the viaduct and Wynyard quarter … fun.
Here’s a list of cons (these are all cheap and easy to fix, so as far as I’m concerned, if these were taken care of the place would be a winner.)
Wardrobe door was off it’s slider track
Sieve on shower head is tightened off centre and sprays sideways
Shower door leaks
Waste disposal had a rag jammed in it
Heater foot was broken
Dishwasher was full of someone else’s dirty dishes
BBQ is disgusting, old food on the grill, spent candles, deck is filthy and needs a mop
Furniture (stained chairs) and carpet badly need a clean
Hot water doesn’t last long .. not enough for two people to shower in the morning.
Towel rail is dislodged
The bed linen was awful … using two single sheets instead of a fitted queen sheet is crazy, and the old duvet doesn’t have a fitted duvet cover … great bedding is so easy, cheap and soo good … a massive fail.
Came home to find cleaners in the apartment without any notice, violated our privacy, not OK
The clothes rack doesn’t have a bottom strut to stop it collapsing
There was someone else’s dirty sock under one of the beds and a used Moro bar wrapper on the floor under one of the bedside tables
The man hole cover in one of the bathrooms was left open
We won't be back. But honestly, if the hosts sorted out the above things the place would be great.