We have used AirBnB extensively ( over 30 trips worldwide) and have certain expectations about interactions from a “superhost”. It is unfortunate that those expectations were not met at Irem’s apartment
We found good points and not so good points and list them here.
GOOD POINTS:
The apartment was clean, the bed was comfortable and the location was good.
NEUTRAL POINTS
The apartment is on third floor, as stated on AirBnB. Access is by 57 steps up a winding staircase. This is not a problem at all if you are fit and don’t have heavy luggage. If you are unfit or have big bags, this could be an issue. We did not have a problem climbing these stairs with our light cabin bags.
NO SO GOOD POINTS.
We found that Irem did not bother to respond to our messages.
1. There are no maps of Istanbul or travel brochures in the apartment. We would expect a superhost to at least leave maps or directions to the nearest Tourist Information Office to help guests.
We WhatsApped Irem to meet him/her. Irem said that they would meet us the next morning.. We wasted a good part of the next morning waiting for a host who did not turn up and who did not message us to tell us that they were not coming.
2. When we checked in, there was a strong chemical smell in the apartment. We contacted Irem on WhatsApp regarding this and the response was that the superhost would find out if the smell was from roof insulation, and that host would get back to us. The superhost did not get back to us or follow matters up further.
This chemical smell subsided after about 4 or 5 hours.
After the chemical smell faded, we found that there was a faint to medium smell of sewage wafting in the apartment. This smell seemed to come from the bathroom/toilet area and wafted into the kitchen and bed area. We had to keep the apartment windows open all the time to lessen the smell.
3. There were no instructions on how to work the television. We messaged the host via AirBnB to tell them that we could not get it to work. The host did not bother to respond.
4. Amenities listed include an iron. We searched the whole apartment and there was no iron there.
We travel very light and only have an airline cabin bag of clothes each. We got totally drenched in the rain on one day and needed to iron our limited clothes dry. We messaged Irem informing host about our situation, and told the superhost that we could not locate the iron. Again, the superhost did not bother to respond.
5. Shower drain not working well. Water builds up in floor of shower while taking shower. Takes a little while to drain away.
We have to point out here that this is the first critical review that we have ever given a host. We have reviewed more than 30 AirBnB apartments worldwide.
We hope that the host takes our comments as helpful criticism to raise his/her standardsand takes the necessary corrective measures to make the apartment stay really memorable in a good way.
We feel that a superhost should ensure that guests are met appropriately and talked through the apartment and its amenities. Information and maps should be available in the apartment, as has been the case in other AirBnbs.
We have always had immediate responses to queries made to previous hosts. This host did not bother to respond to our queries. Hopefully in future, Irem will make the effort to respond promptly to guests.