I must say that this was one of the worst Airbnb experiences I’ve had. I’m not active user of AirBnb and this experience confirmed why. It took 3 hours to access the apartment. This is beyond unacceptable.
The property manager use a lockbox setup, they provide instructions on where the key is located as well as the access code. Yes, the instructions were clear and accurate. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was the there were approximately 15 garbage bags blocking the door. Upon realizing that they lockbox was not accessible, I contacted the property manager and provided photos of the issue. She stated that she would look in a solution. I shared with her that I was not comfortable moving the garbage bags. Especially after I had already asked a resident of the building if he knew of any rodent problems. To which he said yes, there have been problems.
I made sure to mention to the property manager that I had hoped that a solution would be identified quickly since it was getting dark and I was also cold. I decided to go to the Whole Foods, which was a 7 minute walk from the apartment. When I got there, I received a message from the property manager, she said that it would be quicker for me to move the garbage bags because it would take about an hour to get the key to me. I reiterated that I would wait because, once again, I am not comfortable with moving garbage bags.
After waiting (shopping and eating at Whole Foods, which by the way, was not how I would typically choose to have dinner), I sent a message requesting an ETA. She then proceeded to tell me that “she hadn’t sent the key yet and that there would be a charge of 50 Pounds… Note that the now, this is my problem? There was absolutely NO WAY I WAS GOING TO PAY 50 POUNDS. How does one find the nerve to tell someone, after more than 2 hours of waiting, that they would have to pay to receive the key.
At that point, I left Whole Foods. Returned to the apartment to assess and reconsider moving the garbage bags because at this point I was exhausted. I saw another tenant entering the building. Once again, I asked if he knew of any rodent problems. He also confirmed that there have been rodent problems. The only person that doesn’t know that they have rodent problems is the property manager!
I called the property manager AGAIN. At that point, she FINALLY decided to send an Uber with the key. But couldn’t confirm whether I would be charged the 50 Pounds.
NOTE: This issue started at 5:34PM and was not resolved until 8:45PM
This entire process took 3 hours.
The apartment itself is as advertised.
I received a message stating that the key should be returned to the lockbox when checking out of the apartment. Once agin, the garbage was still there. This was 2 days later. This tells me that no additional investigation took place.
Personally I think this company manages a lot of apartments and therefore don’t truly care about the guest’s experience. Which does a huge disservice to the apartment owners.
Also note, they kept sending me emails in French…ummm, yes, I live in Paris but I’m American, which is in my profile, my US Passport and I wrote in English…I happen to speak and read French but my French is not perfect, so I found that a bit annoying.