A unique experience but not entirely all positive.
Location: Very good, you’ve got Shoreditch and Old Street on your doorstep, as well as Hackney/Cambridge Heath the other way. It’s a bit of a tricky process finding the key and then the alleyway but I know Basilio is updating his user guide to reflect this.
Check in: Mostly ok except we immediately encountered issues with the flat front door lock. The key would not fully unlock the door. This was reported to Basilio and it wasn’t taken very seriously initially.
The flat: A very nice modern flat, with plenty of space and light. It’s on the 3rd floor of a walk up, so not as ideal for lugging bags up and down or small children. Neighbours were very nice too. We stayed for 4 nights but it felt like this flat would be perfect for a shorter weekend stay as it is very “lived in” (Basilio and his wife’s belongings are all there and there isn’t much room for you to put your own stuff). Even the fridge had their perishable groceries which could prove an issue after a longer stay. Basilio maintained we should treat the place as if it were ours, but I think ideally you’d want the familiarity of home without so many things surrounding you.
The cat: Fuffa their fluffy white cat was there when we stayed. She is very low maintenance as Basilio and his wife have a machine which delivers her food, as well as water bowls. She was lovely and our 2 year old enjoyed having her there. The main downside is she wouldn’t leave us alone when we were preparing food or eating. One occasion she jumped onto the counter and took some food that had just been cooked while my wife was in the other room.
The door: As noted above we had an issue with the flat front door, which got worse over the next day or so to the point where we were unable to get back into the flat at night. The host was travelling and not contactable, so we had to raise an urgent request with Airbnb support. We eventually were able to stay in a hotel nearby. Basilio was apologetic and arranged a locksmith to visit the next day. The lock was confirmed to be faulty and I assume by the time a future guest stays here it will be replaced. Basilio was quick to action when available, but there were periods where we couldn’t communicate fast enough. I’m sure he will fix this.
I wanted to provide context as to why I rated this experience lower than usual. I’m confident that Basilio can take the feedback on board and provide a great experience for future guests ☺️