This was my first experience with Airbnb. The location was as described. Very urban. If you are not used to this, you will find it kind of dirty. The room was very small.
What I liked :
- the internet speed was very fast and you had your own private server.
- easy access to transportation. But you have to take several transfers to get to Central London for tours and things. It can be confusing for visitors to London.
- the shower! OMG the water pressure was perfect!
What I didn't like.
There was a horrible, persistent smell. At first, I thought it was just my room. But then later I found out it was several rooms.
In my first room, they came and sprayed, alot. And it subsided. But then the T.v broke. So I was moved to another room that I liked the layout a bit better, and had a big window. But that smell was MUCH worse in this room.
The first night they pretended like they didn't know what I was talking about. I asked for them to spray the room as they had done for my other room, but they wouldn't. They gave me some essential oils.
It didn't mask the smell. I ended up buying some fabreeze spray. The 2x strength. And it would get rid of the smell for a while but I had to keep spraying.
That first night in the room. The smell woke me up. I got up and sprayed the room again. Tip. If your room stinks like that, spray the curtains and upholstery. Its supposed to help kill odors longer than just spraying the air.
Over that weekend, I nearly used up a full can. That Monday they came into the room and they used a machine to pull out the air and then deodorized it. That helped for Monday, but it came back on Tuesday.
I had them come and spray some more and I finished up my can of Fabreeze. Wednesday thankfully I checked out.
What annoyed me was that some of the employees there acted like this was something new. Then you talked to others and they were happy to tell you about the other rooms having the same problem. It obviously wasn't a new problem.
In fact, in my room, there was an empty bottle of essential oils with sticks. It made me think someone else had complained and they gave them the same essential oils to mask the odor.
Based on the smell and the 1/2 hearted response from management, I won't be staying here again.