The place is definitely beautiful in the heart of SOHO. Just a few walking minutes from Piccadilly Circus. There’s a gay bar right next to the apartment which was great and fun to hang out at. The apartment was spotless clean and well organized. The bed was comfortable and also the toilet was really neat and the hot water was working from the time we arrived. As mentioned by other visitors, yes there are stairs to climb but if you’re fairly fit, you will manage to do that. The flat itself was well protected with a few security doors and CCTV.
Communication with the host was flawless and the handing over of keys worked well too (thanks C. for being such a sweetheart!)
The only thing that was surprising to us was that the guests have to switch on the central heating themselves in winter when nobody is at home. The first night I thought there was no heating till I asked the next day and we were advised to switch it on ourselves. It was apologized that we were not being told to do so on arrival. I thought it would solve the problem but in the end it took another day and a half for the room to heat up, thus two out of three nights we slept in an ice-cold apartment, in December, in several layers of thermal clothes. We’re living in a hot country so it was super-difficult for us to adjust. We were not compensated for this and now I am writing this review in another hotel having fever and a spoiled rest of my holiday. I feel that for a price of 480 $ for three nights (including all extra charges) the central heating should be switched on before a guest arrives. I work in hoteld myself and have not experienced a procedure like this before.
Therefore, I would definitely recommend this homestay in summer due to the excellent location, the cleaniness and the communication with the host!
The two stars are given simply because of the horror nights I had to endure and the resulting sickness now, but we hope that the host could revise the procedure and get the place ready in winter for future visitors as well.