We booked this accommodation to celebrate 2 birthdays.
Prior to Arrival
I contacted the host, Ayesha, to ask where to park and where the property was. She did not know where to park. She also gave me a name of a pub that the property was apparently next to. The name of the pub changed months ago according to a neighbour, so made finding the property extremely difficult.
There is nowhere outside the property to unload the car; the nearest location to pull over is a 3 minute walk down the road – a real pain when you have numerous bags to carry. Again, details of where to unload the car should be made clear. I found a car park which was a third of a mile away from the property – this should be made clear in the details, as well as the £18 per day parking charge.
Upon Arrival
Approaching the property, we were met with a strong, sustained smell of cannabis outside. This continued for the duration of the weekend, nothing the host could do about that granted.
Upon opening the door, there were numerous postal letters on the floor. Picking them up and placing them in the kitchen, it became evident that there were numerous different individuals living at the property. It then became abundantly clear, very quickly, that this was poorly presented student accommodation, which was most certainly not worth £997 for 2 nights.
The standard of the premises is both appalling and dangerous. I went to open the kitchen sash window to let some air in, and to see where the elusive “mountain view” which was quoted in the description. My wife was by my side to see as well. I opened the window upwards, let go, and the top window came crashing down to close again, when it should have stayed in the open position. If my wife’s fingers had been there they would have been broken. This is extremely dangerous and should be fixed before allowing any other guests to stay. No other windows within the property were able to open too which is surely a fire risk?
We then spent ages trying to make the TV work, which it would not, only to then find it was the only one in the property. At this level of expenditure, you would expect TV’s in the bedrooms. So we spent the weekend without TV.
Putting food away in the fridge we noted the door didn’t close properly, causing some of the food to become inedible come the last day. We then noted there were no hand towels or spare toilet rolls. We contacted the host who said they were in the kitchen. We finally found them in a cupboard downstairs – this host clearly does not know her own property.
General Condition
We have 25 photographs of dangerous and dirty examples of this being an incredibly poor accommodation. There was mould in the bathrooms, dents in walls, doors, paint peeling, dirty walls, pictures just placed on the floor, not hung, a bin liner over a window, a cracked window with gaffa tape holding it together, sharp edges to peeling worktops in the kitchen, trip hazard on ripped lino in kitchen…the list goes on. There was also a broken swivel kitchen chair that our friend fell off when he sat on it.
The overall state of the apartment is terrible, but more importantly, it does not meet EU Protection Law, as the host has certain standards to achieve, as listed in the Airbnb hosting pages.
•	Safety – emergency contact info missing
•	Safety – No 1st Aid kit
•	Safety – Missing fire/smoke/Carbon Monoxide detectors in various rooms
•	Safety – No marked fire escape
•	Safety – Hazzard prevention, for example – broken window, dangerous sash window, trip hazard with ripped lose kitchen floor covering and broken chair – 2 of which nearly caused harm to my guests.
When contacted, the host offered £100 refund, saying there was nowhere in Edinburgh you could stay as cheap. We have found one for £700 in a far superior condition, but could not swap due to the poor service from Air B & B. If you want to stay in poor student accommodation, are arriving on foot from the train, and want somewhere central (and pay £1000 for 2 nights for the privilege), then this is your place. By the way, although the central location is a plus, it also has single glazed windows, so the street noise will keep you up till 3.30am! If anyone would like to see the real detailed photographs of this place I would be happy to share.