Kathinka responds swiftly, communicates well and cares for her guests. She gave us an extra bed for the baby and also took the trouble of letting us check in early. We had a good week at her place. The cleanliness was not up to our standard, and we would have appreciated some free space to unpack our luggage. However, the place itself is very nice, a good base to explore Oslo, and the backyard and garden were perfect for the children to play.
This review should have ended there. However, just before checkout, I received a message proposing that we should not write reviews. She was very displeased about how we had treated her upon check-in, but she would prefer to not give us a bad review. She used several offensive adjectives to define us. We proposed to meet personally, hoping to better understand her view, but after almost an hour of discussion, it was clear that it was futile. At check-in, six days before, we had pointed out that there were several spots on the kitchen floor and brown spots on the toilet seat. According to her, this was ill-mannered behaviour, but she was unable to tell how we should have addressed it. "I am sorry, but I am afraid the toilet does not seem to be clean" was apparently not good enough for her. Then as we left, the door was slammed behind us.
In hindsight, we should have asked AirBnB to rebook us. Several aspects of the cleanliness and hygiene were unacceptable. Brown stains under the toilet seat. Layer of soap/fat/hair at the edge of the shower. Food spots in the cupboards and several kitchen utilities in the drawers that were not properly washed. Thick layers of dust on several not-so-easy-to-reach surfaces. The refrigerator was not that clean either, and the freezer was disgusting. Not to mention the used covid test and used kleenex in the bedroom. These were major things, things that mattered for us, but there were several other minor inconveniences. I do have pictures of most of this. I do not expect an AirBnB to be like a hotel. Minor issues are fine. But here they we just extra symptoms of a deeper problem.
We kept all this to ourselves after check-in, because she had been kind until then. We cleaned a lot to feel more comfortable. Did not complain. And planned on writing a fairly ok review. I do not know if she was actually offended, or if telling us that we were rude was a way for her to try to avoid a bad review. She said she was not interested in tips, but I do hope that the place will now be better cleaned for future guests. I really regret the way this turned out.