Alisa's flat is well located near St. John's Wood high street and a good amount of space for two people who want more than a bedroom for a week away.
Alisa's listing mentions check-in after 3pm and due to our work commutes, and travelling across the country, unfortunately we couldn't arrive until 9:45pm - Alisa was very passive aggressive about this in her communication which was an unwelcoming start.
The shabby chic decor is homely albeit rough around the edges. We had issues when we were in the flat with a crusty bedsheet, unsecured toilet, unclean kitchen (incl. bowls/glasses) and unfinished floorboards with exposed nails. Alisa was very apologetic RE: the bedsheet but when we tried to communicate the other issues with her with photographs (so that it was done privately and as soon as we had noticed them) we received an unprofessional, emotional outburst in return. She heavily implied we should leave the flat for somewhere 'more appropriate for your standards' which was of course not an option with such short notice on our holiday. We agreed to stay to stop her barrage of messages, which were causing me a lot of angst, and requested a refund for the cleaning fee after our stay which she declined.
I've used Air B&B all around the world since 2013 and this was the first negative experience with a host that I have ever had. Alisa's response included other phrases such as 'I really can't afford to worry about whether you are happy or not every other day' and 'you're a stranger in my home that complains pretty much about everything right now'.
She was also incredibly put out by me asking if she would consider purchasing a fan ahead of our stay (noting it was a 30 degree+ heat wave in London, I experience chronic migraine and we travelled by train so couldn't bring more than a handheld). She brought up my question in her outburst and reminded me that 'this is not a hotel...'. I was disappointed but did not respond negatively to her declining our polite request.
The whole experience has really upset me as I would always rather privately handle any complaints and would expect a host to be more apologetic and solution-oriented instead of hostile. The stress of the interaction during our stay triggered a migraine which ruined a couple days of our trip. Alisa has put me off using Air B&B again as I have never experienced anything else like it (as per all my other positive reviews).