Unfortunately my wife and I had a mostly negative experience of Ana's place. On the positive, Ana was quick and replying to messages and was prompt at responding to a power cut we had during the stay. The flat was also mostly clean. In terms of the negative aspects of the stay these are given next:
Power Cut: As mentioned above, there was a power cut on the first evening from around 8pm. My wife was in the flat on her own at the time as I was having dinner with my parents. My wife had planned on having a relaxing evening because of a big family event happening the following day. The power cut unfortunately turned the evening into a very stressful experience for her, especially because when the power went out we were told that the power wouldn't come on until the early hours of the morning the following day. Fortunately it came on at around 10pm, but it still ruined the evening for my wife. While I agree that this power cut was not the fault of the host, I think it’s reasonable for the host to offer a small amount of compensation (e.g. £20) as a result of this negative experience. When I mentioned this to Ana following the stay, she said no and said that she was “really offended” that I asked. Checking online when I got home I found an ‘airbnb host’ forum that talked about power cuts, and the consensus seemed to be that offering the guest a small partial refund (e.g. £20) or equivalent is reasonable if the guest has had a negative experience. Fortunately Airbnb gave me £20 in compensation and apologised for the negative experience that we received.
Health and Safety issue: During the power cut, my wife noticed that on the stairwell outside the flat (which is on the top floor) there were no emergency battery-powered wall lights (or if they are there then they were not on). To me this is a serious health and safety issue because if my wife had had to evacuate the building during the power cut (e.g. due to a fire) then she may have fallen over while descending down the stairs as a result of there being no lights and thus potentially injuring herself. I reported this health and safety issue to Airbnb who told me that they are investigating it.
Parking: I know most people get the train to London but give the amount luggage my wife and I had we decided to drive. We knew beforehand that there is no long term parking, however we checked with Ana beforehand about parking outside the building where Ana’s place for 5-10 minutes in order to unload our luggage. While she did explain that Percival Mews is okay to use in order to unload she did explain that we might need to move if a neighbour wants access. Unfortunately a neighbour did want access just as we were about to unload. Given that I was unsure if another neighbour would want access I decided it was best to park parallel to the road on one half of the cycle lane which runs next to road. Later my wife found out from Ana that there are cameras and as a result we might get fined. I wish Ana had warned me about this prior to the stay when I asked about parking for 5-10 minutes to unload.
Other minor issues: (1) The flat is on the top floor of the building and the stairs going up to the top floor are narrow making it challenging to carry luggage up it – it would helpful if both of these pieces of information had been explained in the airbnb listing for the place. (2) There are missing wooden slats in the wooden blinds in one of the bedrooms and in the living room – given that Ana has only just started receiving guests following covid it is surprising that this and other minor repair issues were not fixed during the long period when there were no guests; (3) There are no light shades on ceiling lights in the bedrooms (which is weird) and there are no bedside lamps (also strange).