We had high hopes for this apartment in Cape Town, but were disappointed on several fronts. The trip started on a not-so-positive note when the hosts informed us a few days before our visit that the elevator would be out of service throughout our stay, but that they hoped we'd be ok with it since the unit is on the "3rd floor". When we arrived, it turned out that the unit was on the 5th floor of the building, which was a bit much for our 5-day stay with a lot of luggage going up and down. When I pointed this out and asked for a discount since this was not what we expected (and frankly, we would have booked another place had we known it was a 5-floor walk-up every time), the hosts declined. They did offer to let us move for a full refund, but at that point, after having carried all luggage up and also done a grocery shop, it was too big a hassle to move.
In addition to the issue with the elevator, there were other inaccuracies from the description on Airbnb, namely: no smoke or carbon monoxide detectors and no fire extinguisher. Call me crazy, but being on the 5th floor of an apartment building inside a unit that actually has a locked door of metal bars outside the main door, seems like a huge fire hazard. Given that all units seemed to have a second metal security door on the outside, we figured we should keep it locked. But that would've presented a problem had there been a fire, particularly with no notice since there's no smoke alarm. And to top it off, when I pointed this out to the hosts they told me I was incorrect, that there's a smoke alarm above the front door and a fire extinguisher under the sink. I checked again, in both places, and nope...nothing. Not there.
Lastly, we didn't feel the unit was very clean. The floors were dusty and the insides of the drawers in the clothes dresser were pretty bad: hairs, dirt, etc. We ended up leaving our clothes in our suitcases rather than put them in there.
Oh, and it's pretty difficult to sleep here. The large windows that look so beautiful during the day only have see-through blinds, so the unit gets light enough to read a book as soon as the sun is up. Those windows also overlook a loud and busy thoroughfare, with noisy traffic starting in the morning. And lastly, the bed was very soft and not very comfortable.
Ok, but other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? There were a few positives: the unit is nicely designed and the African art all around is beautiful. The flat is spacious, gets a lot of light (though too much for sleeping) and has a functional, well-stocked kitchen and a nice bathroom.