We liked the flat and the neighborhood, the park and local restaurants. However, my main problem with this Airbnb listing was dealing with the management company - City Relay. They were too slow in replying to me and had poor communication during my 6 night stay.
We arrived in London at the end of June during a heat wave. It was unbearably hot in the flat so we asked right away for a fan, since there was no air conditioner. I was told they would check with the owner and get back to me. It took them 5 days to get me a fan & it caused us a lot of sweaty and sleepless nights because of the heat. If City Relay or the owner were more honest with me & more efficient in their communication, I would have bought the fan myself on day 1 to avoid being so uncomfortable. It was so much cooler outside at night than inside the apartment, which felt like an oven.
We had to leave the windows open to cool off, but the pub and noise from the street was loud at night, flies and mosquitos were coming in, and I felt unsafe with the wide open windows with no security features from intruders, only 1 floor above the sidewalk. We also had issues with the lock at the front door - at times the key would open it easily, but more than half the time it was so stuck that it took several minutes to open after much frustration. City Relay tried sending housekeeping/maintenance to the apartment twice and they couldn’t figure out how to open the door either. On day 2 we were rudely awoken around 8am by someone forcibly trying to open the door without ever knocking first. We later found out he was coming to measure the broken window in the bedroom and was given authorization to enter by City Relay without us being notified by phone, email or message. Very unprofessional. We also had issues with the cleaning of the flat. We had a delayed check-in because it wasn’t clean when we arrived, and then, the cleaner left the outdoor terrace dirty and unusable. City Relay ended up refunding the cleaning charge.
I've been using Airbnb for years and have never had such a negative experience like this before. If there was only one person in charge, I imagine things would have been addressed quicker, more respectfully and more efficiently. After complaining to City Relay and following up several times, they finally offered me 10% off my stay because of all the inconveniences. I do appreciate that, but I sure hope they improve their professionalism and communication so these problems don’t happen to others while trying to enjoy a vacation.