i stayed at john and hayley's place with two friends for 4 nights. we did not meet john and hayley in person, but the communication via phone and mail was perfectly easy.
the apartment is spacey, nicely layer out (2-floors), and functionally decorated. it is important to say, that it's part of a very special and interesting house, which is very safe and has a porter.
the area, bethnal green, is very authentic and aspiring. also it's about a 10 minute walk to central shoreditch, which is full of cool pubs, cafes, restaurants and nightlife venues.
public transport works perfectly, you can take the tube to get to other parts of london really quick, but i think the buses, stopping about 3 minutes from the house, a better to explore the environment.
the only negative point we found: there were only two blankets for the three guys of us, but the turned out to not really being a problem.
all in all you find a nice and homely place to stay in cool east-london.
i had lots of fun,
ole