The reservation was made with Jacqueline who told me to contact Vinita on whatsapp who then told me to contact the cleaning person for the keys. Already, a complicated start.
We were unable to check in on time in the agreed upon manner because the cleaning crew was not complete with their cleaning. We were told to come 2 hours later than the agreed upon time and once we did so, the room was completely trashed and they were still cleaning it. Only one bed room was clean. The common areas, second bedroom and bathroom were still very dirty.
I told Vinita about the issues and she didn't offer any solution. She said she would have to talk to Jacqueline who was the owner of the apartment. I asked her to refund a night, and she did agree. Once I provided a South African bank account then we did receive the refund. However, I'm not sure why this could not have been refunded through Airbnb. Luckily, I had a friend who was able to share her South African bank information with me otherwise it looks like I would not have been able to get a refund.
Also, I messaged Jacqueline on Airbnb to call me (since I was told she was the owner), and she did not do so. I have not spoken to her since I made the booking since she ignored my messages.
Aside from this, we were unable to access the building in the evenings, luckily we figured it out and entered through the garage. This information was not given to us and the area is "safe" but it's still late night in an alley-way in South Africa.
Lastly, once we checked out and returned home, we noticed we had bed bug bites. I contacted Vinita on whatsapp and told her the bed has bed bugs and she blocked my number. I was not going to write a harsh review, but this seems to be the only way to let them know that there are BED BUGS.
So beware, I never met the people who are renting the apartment and there are bed bugs. Also, since we saw the cleaning crew, we know they are cycling people out very quickly. The person had only left that morning, and then we were told to check in that day. Things were very, very, very dirty and they did a superficial cleaning.
*The apartment itself looks like it's pictures online and seems safe.