Although we were really looking forward to staying here thanks to the beautiful photos, we had a very disappointing 5-day stay in this flat.
I took a shower the first night there and it immediately started to flood. My boyfriend had to remove the drain cover and pull out an extremely large hair clog. He described it as the most disgusting clog he’d ever seen.
Other issues included: rusted cooking knives; dirty cutlery, dishes, and dish towels; no microwave; and internet that didn’t extend well into the bedroom. The garden was messy and unusable. It is NOT as advertised in the photos (i.e., there’s no seating and it looked generally disheveled).
The absolute biggest issue was the mattress. Far from the “luxury mattress” that is advertised, we found it to be extremely uncomfortable, with springs sticking into our backs that made it impossible to get a good night’s sleep. The bed is also short in length, so if you’re tall, you’ll be hanging off of it.
The apartment has the owner’s things (including mail and packages) everywhere, which meant that the experience felt more like we were house sitting for a friend rather than staying in a place that we could truly relax in for 5 days.
We also had a pretty horrendous final night during which the heat and hot water both stopped working. The “host” (in other words, the property management company) was not responsive to the issue and did not send a maintenance person until the next day, despite the fact that the templates was below freezing. Even then, the issue was resolved for about 10 minutes before everything went out again. Airbnb did refund us for that final night; however, the lack of communication and professionalism is just another of the reasons why we would not stay here again.
The flat is about an hour’s walk from central London, which isn’t bad. If you have a car, note that it will cost about 10 pounds per day to park if you arrange it with the “host” ahead of time. Otherwise, it’s paid street parking.
Overall, I would recommend against this place. Both of us have stayed in several airbnbs in our travels and generally had lovely experiences. This was, by far, the worst we’ve had. If we could do it again, we would have taken note of how few reviews there are for this place and chosen differently.