The place itself was really splendid and well-shaped. It was nice and clean, and had all utilities needed in a standalone apartment. It was also in very good condition. It also has a very good location. It should have been an easy 5-star — the apartment and its location was truly splendid — however the lack of sleep caused by the constant & loud noise of the top-floor pigeons absolutely ruined it.
We were placed in Apartment #8 instead of Apartment #2 (which we booked), as we were told by the assistant of the host — the host we did not met — that some maintenance issues exist in Apartment #2. Apartment #2 was not shown to us, and we did not know about any maintenance issues in advance at all.
We were told that Apartment #8 is "basically the same", however:
1. It lacked a sofa (which we could use for resting after a long day with clothes on, without taking a shower), and had an additional, very small bed (which we could not utilise). We could argue on that one, but was is a significant difference for us.
2. It was placed on the topmost floor. This should have not meant any problem, but a huge loft of pigeons had maybe their Annual Cooing Symposium there, which was so loud that we could barely sleep at night. This was very, and I mean VERY inconvenient at a week-long series of day-long sightseeing walks in the huge metropolis of London.
— Absolute negativity of the top-floor apartment: the pigeons. They were on the roof and inside the warmer vents of the roof. They did some constant, uninterrupted cooing. Every. Day. Every. Night. Every. Single. Minute. Continuously. We could not sleep, we could not think — I still hear them and I think we will have flashbacks of that sound for a long time.
— We were not able to lock the door of the apartment. Even though it could be opened by a key, the additional lock did not work.
— We were not able to lock one of the three windows of the apartment. Thus we did not dare to leave our laptops and other valuables in the apartment. This added significant weight to my backpack, which I carried all the time on our day-long sightseeing walks.