The place is extremely well located, in a quiet enough place that is very close to pedestrian streets and night life, and with a parking space. However, the second room is a former storage space without windows, which may not be suitable for everyone. And, perhaps because of pandemic economics, some small maintenance is needed, but not yet enough to be a problem for the guests.
The check-in process, however, is completely borked. The apartment is rented by a third-party that rents places all over Porto. That becomes obvious very quickly by the amount of automated formulaic emails that they keep sending you.
You can either pick the key at one of two locations in Porto, or have someone at the door with the key for an extra fee. I decided to play it safe and pick up the key, mostly because I was traveling for work and it might be difficult to predict the check-in time.
Miscommunication happened several times.
- They changed the pickup location in the morning, meaning that I ended up having to travel to the two pick-up places to finally get the key.
- When I asked, the young girl that gave me the key said that I would find a remote to open the garage.
When I got to the apartment, I faced a sequence of issues:
- No remote in the apartment at all.
- Several possible garages nearby, so it was not even obvious which was the correct entrance.
- After reaching support through chat (they answer soon enough, but not immediately), I got to the garage through the elevator, and tried to find the parking spot "D". But no "D" was to be found in the garage.
I gave up around midnight, because I had to work in the following day. The car stayed parked in the street, were luckily I had found a place. This can be quite hard at times.
During all the chat back and forward, I was finally given a phone number to call. The mobile phone indicated in a sign within the apartment was not answered.
When I returned home the next day, I stopped outside the garage and called their support. The lady on the phone called the real homeowner and was finally able to point me to the parking place. It turns out that you must:
1. Walk to the building, and use the elevator to access the garage. You need a code.
2. Walk back through the ramp to open the garage door from inside.
3. Drive into the garage until one of the corners.
4. Get out of the car to press a button. And not a very obvious button, because I missed completely it in the previous day. A second garage door opens.
5. Drive outside the building to a secluded place. And there is parking space "D".
The real problem, of course, is that the people renting the place have no direct knowledge of the apartment. Their ability to help is limited.
And, from my point of view, this whole scheme breaks what I loved in AirBnB: places rented with love by their owners.
It was good value for money, but that parking place is really needed in the center of Porto.