Check in was supposedly available from 3 (stated on ad), we arrived at 6:30PM, there was supposed to be a key in the lock box, however this had not been checked and there was no key as previous guest did not return it. We were therefore left waiting for an hour and a half until Marlons flat mate arrived to let us into the building. Whilst on the phone Marlon offered the idea of a refund, however finding an alternative place in London at such short notice was going to be difficult and expensive.
As it was now a little after 8 and we had been travelling all day, we wanted to get ready for bed and get an early night. So we changed and got into bed, at around 9 o’clock Marlon returned home. I left the room to greet him, upon which he did apologise for the inconvenience but then offered to change the bedding. As it turned out that the bedding had still not been changed from the previous guests, by this point we had been relaxing in bed for the last hour. We were then also given towels to use with the shower. Towels were left in the room hung up, however, these unaware to us were also the previous guests, so we very nearly used already dirty towels. Upon polite confrontation of all of this Marlon was mildly apologetic but claimed that due to the price we shouldn’t be expecting much. This is not acceptable. After we had argued, I returned to my room for the night, only to then hear him loudly complaining about me (the guest) to his flat mate. This is highly unprofessional. At this point we did not feel comfortable or particularly safe staying, we luckily found a hotel on short notice for the night (not cheap as you can imagine). When informing Marlon we were leaving he simply replied rudely with “Good”. Having used Airbnb in the past with fantastic experience I was thoroughly disappointed, and my confidence in the service has been shaken. To anyone else also going off the many good reviews left, ignore them. If you are happy with a substandard room, dirty bedding/laundry and shocking hospitality then you will find Marlons place just right.