A bit of a missed opportunity.
The flat lies in a perfect location. It is an EXTREMELY quiet side street just 3 minutes away from Elephant and Castle’s tube and bus stations. You can literally catch any transport in any direction from just outside the door. It has a supermarket and a very good cafe just around the corner.
It looks as if the flat was recently partially refurbished, but the effort was not completed. It features a huge brand new kitchen with a great gas cooker and very nice tiles. There is a big living room and a small back patio which can probably be enjoyed in the good season, although at the time of our stay it was empty and uncared for.
But that’s where it ends. The two bedrooms have a very old carpet that has seen better days. The newly plastered walls have marks from suitcases or furniture. The beds and drawers are old and ramshackle and the bedding is thin and feels a bit worn out. The beds and pillows are not uncomfortable but the whole thing feels more like a student room than an Airbnb. The large bedroom is actually in the front room. This being a ground floor flat it means you need to keep the shades down at all times to ensure privacy, and block out the nice sun which the flat can get. It also means you hear very well any noise from the street, but luckily as I mentioned the street is extremely quiet, with zero through traffic.
The small bedroom is quite cosy and more silent, although you can hear people walking or moving chairs upstairs.
The outside of the flat is also very run down, and you can hear people entering or leaving the house and walking up and down the stairs. (The first floor is apparently also short-let and during our stay there was a French family that rearranged furniture every morning before leaving).
The bathroom is old, but everything functions perfectly with lots of hot water and very good pressure. It was also quite clean, as was the kitchen too.
Basically, this flat could be a lot more, and really match the great pictures from the listing. It is let down by the poor furnishings and the worn out and recycled kitchen utensils, the whole thing giving it a student flat feel.
Communication with the hosts was very good. I am sorry to leave a potentially harmful review but I hope that they seize the opportunity to turn the place into what it could really be, for more Airbnb users to enjoy.