Terrible experience from LovelyStay.
While technically the address for pickup was provided in messages after booking, it is ridiculous to have to travel to another city from where the apartment is located, simply to pick up keys. There is no reason why keys couldn’t be available near the apartment. More than this, there should be a keyless entry keypad with a code to enter the apartment.
If I’m the owner, I’d be very upset by the service of LovelyStay. This apartment had such wonderful character and it showed how much the owner cared about the look and feel of the apartment. However, the checkin and management process of this unit by LovelyStay was extremely disappointing.
After having to get to the main office in a difference city (Porto, when the apartment is in Matosinhos), which was completely unnecessary and added no value while costing time and money to pick up keys, the apartment had also not been cleaned since the last renters. This went against every reason why we rented though Airbnb as we wanted to have a more local and intimate experience. Instead, it was run like a corporate hotel, and very poorly at that.
In all fairness, we were refunded 50% of the first night for the cleaning mistake, but it put a very negative start to this stay. If the owner of this apartment ever sees this comment, I really hope you reconsider the management of this property because the guest experience through LovelyStay does not live up to the energy of the apartment and the intentions and purpose of renting through AirBnB.