I am really disappointed by my stay at the apartment. The apartment itself is a nice place to stay but the lack of attention to detail completely ruins this.
When we arrived, the host didn’t come to meet us. We were waiting outside for at least 30 minutes after the arranged meeting time, only to be texted the code so we could let ourselves in. Why did we have to wait for so long if we could just let ourselves in? As well as this, when we got into the apartment it didn’t feel very welcoming. Perhaps a book/note explaining the basics about the apartment and near by locations (such as how to open the windows and how to use the ac) would have been beneficial. This way, when we encountered small problems- like the AC leaking- we wouldn’t have freaked out - because the information we needed would have been given to us upon arrival.
Furthermore, it became apparent that the neighbours weren’t happy with us staying next door. Every time we got in, they would walk up and down the stairs checking the locks. This was especially scary at night because it sounds like somebody was trying to break in.
The worst part of our stay was that our keys were taken away by the host and we were left stranded outside our apartment with no phone or wallet. We had decided to leave all our posessions inside the apartment and to go to the beach for a few hours. The beach can get busy, and we didn’t want our valuables getting stolen whilst we went swimming. During this time, the host texted us -which we obviously didn’t see- and then proceeded to remove the keys and the lock box without any response from us. We were horrified to return to no keys, no way to get our possessions back and if it wasn’t for a friend living on the same road, we don’t know how we would have resolved this situation. It would have been a disaster. We had no phones, no money, and as tourists, had little to no knowledge about of the local area. Surely, as a Air Bnb by the beach, you would expect people to spend long amounts of time at the beach? I understand that this was a mistake within the company, however it is still completely unacceptable. There is no excuse. As an 18 year old travelling alone for the first time, this terrified me.
This was my first holiday abroad, and to have this happen completely scared me and made me feel very unsafe in the flat. It was a shame that my experience was ruined by this, however it can not be overlooked.