Overall, we had a nice stay, but we experienced some inconveniences that made it less than a 5-star experience. I will start with the positives and say that the apartment is quite lovely. It's well designed, bright (which is impressive since it's a garden-level unit), comfortable, and extremely conveniently located - a couple hundred feet from Kings Cross/St. Pancras station.
That said, we experienced some significant issues during our stay due to the management company, Pembridge. We alerted the Pembridge team (per their request) at least 2 days before our arrival that we would be checking in between 3-4 (check-in time is at 3). When we arrived to pick up the keys, we were told that they thought we were coming at 6pm and the cleaners were still there, so therefore we could not settle in for 2 more hours, which was not ideal after a long day of travel from the US (the did let us store our bags, at least). We made the best of it and returned to the apartment around 6 and prepared to shower and clean up before dinner. Unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards because the hot water was not working. We alerted Pembridge immediately and it took them over an hour to respond. When they finally did, we were told that maintenance would come the following morning at 9am. Again, not ideal, but they were apologetic and we are reasonable people and understand that these things happen.
The next morning, we heard nothing from Pembridge, and there was no sign of a maintenance person. I messaged Pembridge twice and received no response, so finally we decide to walk over their office (a hotel a block away) and ask what is going on. They inform us that a maintenance person did in fact come and fixed the water problem! They were able to fix it all from outside without needing to access the apartment. Obviously, this would have been very helpful information to have had, but communication is obviously an area where Pembridge could vastly improve (other reviews allude to this too). They did end up reimbursing us for part of our first night (after I requested it 2 times via message and then ultimately submitted a formal request for reimbursement through the Airbnb app), so we did appreciate that.
On top of this issue, the sink in the bathroom was also backed up (Pembridge continued to remind us that it was still draining, just slowly!) the entire time we were there. They were aware of this issue before we arrived and had a plumber come during our second day there, but he was unable to fix the issue. Additionally, the fan in the bathroom was broken which meant the bathroom was extremely humid the entire time. The humidity, paired with the blocked sink meant that there was a constant musty smell coming from the bathroom.
Finally, a couple of suggestions for Pembridge: It would be a good idea to provide guests with information about the apartment - Airbnb app has a place where you can do that - it's so easy! A binder would also work. Also, there is a Nespresso machine but no pods provided. Seems like that would be an easy thing to provide guests. Overall though, Pembridge needs to be better at timely and proactive communication with guests.
A couple of other notes that guests should be aware of - there is street noise, which is sort of obvious. The bedroom is at the front of the house with a window facing the street. It's a busy area, so it's not quiet. But hey, this is a big city and that's not unexpected. What was unexpected is that you can hear/feel the tube for most of the day and night. We got used to it and it wasn't a big deal, but it was noticeable.
I have never written such an extensive Airbnb review, but the number of inconveniences we experienced was significant compared to other Airbnb stays (and we've stayed in a LOT of Airbnbs!). At the end of the day, we enjoyed our trip immensely and overall liked the apartment a lot, so I'm still giving it a 4-star rating. If Pembridge can improve the timeliness of their communication (especially when guests are experiencing problems) it would go a long way to making this a 5-star stay!