This review contains my entire experience to include the awful post checkout attempt of extortion. I will save the bad for the end because I do not want to take away from the beauty of our experience just because of what happened AFTER we left. That’s not fair.
I brought my family to Porto, Portugal to show them a part of where I spent my childhood and the city and people in the nearby neighborhood did not disappoint!! There’s so much life and happiness right outside of the apartment door!
First, the apartment is beautiful and situated centrally to everything! My family and I were able to walk to every experience we booked on Airbnb as well as other tourist attractions.
We received our keys from a kind lady at the grocery store directly across the street and also picked up most of our food from this location. If you’re missing small necessities, you can get them from here. There’s a place for laundry a few doors down and across as well.
You are walking distance to many restaurants, the city center, the river and wineries. I recommend trying restaurants that look like they are a mom and pop place. I found those to be most delicious and cost effective for my family of 5.
Communication with the hosts were great in the beginning! Responses were received in less than an hour and they were very kind. The responsiveness stopped, however, the day of checkout.
Cleanliness was not so bad. A few dishes and the oven grill had food stuck on them, but it was nothing alarming or that could not be hand washed away. There was a lot of hair in the home but again, nothing that a broom could not handle. The sheets and other surfaces were clean. That’s what was most important for us. The local ants are quite aggressive which is no fault of the hosts. They provide ant spray which we used quite often. Luckily, they remain in the kitchen.
The kitchen is well equipped with basic items needed to cook a good meal and has city views.
Room comfort and space was to be expected. The queen bed was super comfortable while the secondary beds and cots were not. They served their purpose after long days of walking and site seeing though. The most comfortable space was the living room which has a comfy couch 4people can lounge on. There were 5 of us, 3 being children and it felt crowded so I’d recommend 3-4 people max. The living room has a wobbly collapsible table like the old school TV trays. If it’s still there, please be careful as it may fall.
The home comes with electric and gas heaters. We used the electric ones and quickly learned that having one on in the living room while cooking in the kitchen trips the breaker and the house loses electricity. The hosts provided pictures quickly to show where the breaker box was. I assume this is something common in the home. Once we figured out how to make the electricity stop failing, we had no more problems with it during our stay. None of the lamps worked but the overhead lights were sufficient at night and plenty of sun light comes through the windows.
There are two toilets and one shower. The shower pressure and temperature were great and were able to accommodate 5 people taking a shower. The light switch for the toilet room is located in the kitchen directly across from it. Something to note because it took us a while to find it.
There are extra toiletries to include lady hygiene needs should you need them located under the cabinet in the shower room. There’s also plenty of toilet paper and trash bags provided so no need in grabbing a supply from the market.
The internet information provided in check in is incorrect but you can easily find it by looking at the box located next to the television. The TV was a nice size for family movies and comes with local channels. We were entertained with the local channels and movies so we never checked for streaming capability. I believe you will find it not needed.
There are no checkout instructions in the home and to date, none on the listing. I suggest you confirm with the hosts prior to checkout, what they want done prior to you leaving. If you do not do so already, ensure you take photos and/or videos prior to leaving in case what happened to me happens to you. You’ll need pictures as protection. Thankfully, I had pictures and documentation to counter the awful claims against us.
As previously stated, communication was great until our last day. The last day, my family put our dirty dishes in the dishwasher and started it, bagged the trash and placed next to the trash can located in the kitchen, rinsed our recycling and left in one spot in the kitchen, sprayed for the ants, wiped all surfaces down, pulled the sheets from the bed and unplugged all nonessential electronics. This is a practice we’ve done for years unless there are extra checkout instructions or if clear instructions on where trash/recycling receptacles are located. This was not provided nor expressed.
The store we received our key from was closed and without instructions or a response from either host after texting her that morning, we decided to hide the house key under the door mat and immediately notify her of this as we walked out at 0722.
Remember I said you need pictures upon your departure? Not just for here but every home you rent. 4 days after departure, I received an email requesting $45 for excessive cleaning. The request was canceled within an hour so I thought nothing of it. I later received a text to my WhatsApp threatening to report me since I did not respond to their Airbnb message sent a couple of hours before which had been