Fiona was very attentive and responsive. She was very accommodating and even met up with us early in the morning to allow us to check in by 9AM, since our flight arrived early in the morning.

Unfortunately, the positive ends there. First and foremost, the house was NOT the one presented in the listing. It is much smaller and older. It seems that the host has several properties within the vicinity, but is listing all of them under one listing. During our stay this time, the only thing that was accurately portrayed was the location of the property, which is extremely central and very, very walkable. However, location can only go so far.

I will try to break down the issues that we encountered during this stay. Since the apartment is in an older building, some of the problems is really not the fault of the host. Others, however, can easily be remedied. First, the bathroom. The bathroom in the actual unit is about 1/3 the size of the one in shown in the listing and perhaps 20 years older. The water pressure is extremely low. One thing common in bathrooms in Taiwan is very low sink placement. I stand at 5'6" and the sink basically comes up to crotch height. That said, this bathroom has a ledge placed above the sink, which makes it doubly awkward for one to stoop down and reach the sink.

The apartment was sort of clean, with fresh sheets. We couldn't quite figure out why our allergies worsened and had first thought it was just the air in Taipei. Closer inspection revealed that the fan blade on the air conditioner was covered in mold, which basically blew spores all over the room when we had it on. This was further proven to be the cause of our allergies when our condition immediately improved once we switched to using the fan.

The futon couch in the living room was undoubtedly the most uncomfortable one I have ever sat on in my life. And this is coming from someone who slept on one for over four years. The futon was so old that when you sat on it there was no support, and you could basically feel each of the steel ribs of the frame underneath. I find it hard to believe that anyone could sit on it for over 10 minutes, let alone sleep in it.

I was thoroughly disappointed in the misrepresentation of this listing. Since this is the first time we have tried Airbnb in Taiwan, I'm hoping that this is not the norm of Airbnb listings in this country.

The listing is lower priced for the area, but unless location is all you care about, I would recommend coughing up another 10-20 bucks a day for a decent hotel room.

One star for our very nice and accommodating host, and one star for the misleading property.