I did not get the apartment that is in the pictures. The pictures show a beautiful, bright, clean apartment with wood wrapped windows and wood floors., and lovely decorated bedrooms. The pictures are a dream! However, the apartment I received was not this apartment at all, and not just redecorated, it was not the same apartment. In fact, I honestly thought I had walked into a neighbors apartment by accident. It looked like someone lived there and would return any moment. I messaged the host to make sure I wasn’t trespassing. He thought it was funny that I would be so confused.
I can look past this, but it got worse the more we tried to be there. It was filthy. The coffee in the coffee maker had molded, there was grease splatter on the walls, the carpet had crumbs, the couch pillows had hair and dust, the windows were so gross that the black out blinds were a blessing. The flowers on the table had rotted and were smelling. Even the hair dryer was gross. Like, this was really a shock. We had planned this luxurious stay in a luxurious area of Oslo and this place was really bad.
To top it off, we couldn’t unpack, or even try to settle in. The closets were full, the dresser was full, the fridge was full, the freezer was full, and our suitcases were on the floor of an ALL BLACK BEDROOM (def not in the pics) with a tiny low watt light that was not even enough light to see the floor. It was just an overall mess and we ended up leaving Oslo 2 days early, which was a shame.
The host was very uncooperative and would respond with laughter when I brought this to his attention. I don’t know what is going on with the other reviews, but the apartment that is advertised is not this host’s apartment. It’s grossly misrepresented and just plain false.
I have used AirBnb for years, all over the world. I know some hosts live in their Air BnB’s and that is fine. I also know that sometimes things don’t get cleaned well. All this I can deal with, but this property is advertised as a luxury rental, in a very luxurious area of Oslo. And the pictures are not of the actual apartment! How can this be allowed? For $500/night, I could have stayed at a beautiful hotel in the same area. My biggest regret is not leaving the moment we arrived. I thought I could tough it out, but it was just all so disappointing.
Just to make sure I wasn’t overreacting about the dirt, I asked a couple of my friends in Oslo to visit and tell me what they thought of the place. They were shocked and told me this is very unusual for Oslo, especially for this area. That this is not a cultural difference, this apartment was filthy. I went to make them coffee and the coffee maker was all molded inside. It was embarrassing. They were shocked and apologized that this was my first experience of Oslo.
What a shame. The only upside is that my next Air BnB host in Paris was lovely and amazing and it restored some of my trust in Air BnB. But if you don’t see a black bedroom and gray living room in the pics, Air BnB hasn’t made this host put up pics of the actual apartment. They are fantasy pics still. Just don’t stay here.