Our stay at Andrew’s place was very DISAPPOINTING. It was my 10th year airbnbing in Capetown and this year I had decided to spend more than ever before to rent this highly rated 2 bedroom place with the rooftop and brae area. The two bedrooms are totally different in size, which we didn’t realize by the pictures and what is not easy if you want to share the place. One is large and has a great sliding window towards the terrace (which turned out to be at a very loud intersection – you don’t see that on the pictures) and the other is half the size more backwards with a hallway in front and only 2 small windows that don’t open. The only air ventilation is a 20cm top shelf that you can fold up giving a 5cm opening. That led to the biggest problems we had – fresh air. The pictures are taken very smart and show the rooms in a clever way – NOWHERE can you see, that the toilet!! sits inside of your bedroom! Yes! You can see the toilet seat from the bed. No wall – in the smaller room, there is a little drawer in between but giving the toilet and the shower in the same small room and the limited ventilation it smelled like sewer and you had to leave the door open to sleep. We tried to meet Andrew and talk but he was not willing to sit down with us and find a way to negotiate.
The only time we wanted to use the grill/brae area that is highly recommended in the advertisement of this Airbnb we invited 7 friends with Andrew’s permission. The grill is built in a brick wall and we closed the door to fully heat it up. Then the door wouldn’t open anymore. We tried opening it by working on the door with knives and the grill utensils and we kicked the door 3 times with a foot to loosen it. It wouldn’t open. Andrew had said to come by and help but never showed up. 7 people were waiting. We had to drive to SPAR to buy a grill so we could prepare the food we bought. Andrew never helped us, never set down with us to find a solution but accused us the next day that we had destroyed his grill. It turned out that he has a surveillance camera running, where he recorded our private get together. He doesn’t state that on the ad. He only talks about a security camera INFRONT of the house. You have to know he records the hall way, who visits you and he records the rooftop with the grill area and the Jacuzzi, where you change.
So we tried to sit down and discuss both sides and solve the problems but he was not interested.
We have both started claims with Airbnb – he wants us to pay his grill that never worked and we are upset to have paid so much money for 2 bedrooms with a toilet right next to a very loud street.