Our tiny family of three (2 adults, 1 toddler) stayed for 8-days in December while we visited family for the holidays. We usually have stellar experiences at Airbnb’s, and love writing rave reviews. This time around, we felt that families specifically should be mindful of a few things when staying:
1. It will be loud. The freeway noise didn’t bother us at all. But, there are two fire stations nearby (one is 3 blocks away, one is 7 blocks away). The fire trucks use the cross street that runs up against the side of the duplex pretty heavily, and that street is about 25 feet away from windows along the unit. Daytime was no problem, but overnight sirens were a bit rough.
2. Some items weren’t very clean. The black comforter for the futon had clear, white-ish stains on it- yipes! The bedroom comforter smelled like maybe a pet had previously slept on it? The sheets and towels didn’t seem freshly laundered. The hosts have a special laminated page about it being a priority to provide clean bedding for the unit. The note says to let them know if bedding is not clean, which made us think that it’s something that’s previously been brought to their attention. We chose not to communicate it to them and just wash sheets and towels on our own.
3. The bedroom is the coldest room in the house, and the air conditioning unit sitting on the window sill brings a mean draft into the room. The only wall heater is located in the TV room at the entrance, and the bedroom is in the back of the place. If someone is sleeping on the futon where the wall heater is located, they will be sweaty by morning to keep the back bedroom warm. We brought extra blankets to throw over the bed, but that draft was still killer.
4. The laminated directions around the house seemed pretty harmless, and actually made me chuckle a bit: “Don’t cause an explosion in the kitchen.” “This is not the place to experiment with cooking. Order from Uber eats.” “If you do not clean the stove properly, you could be charged up to $250 for additional cleaning service.” “Wash, dry and put away all kitchen items you use.” It felt a bit over the top by the time we found the third one, and made us feel like we needed to be overly conscientious of everything we did.
5. There may not be enough basic items for your stay. We were given 1.25 rolls of toilet paper, a half of a paper towel roll and enough soap for a few meals. The soap was actually hand wash, so we ended up purchasing dish soap independently, along with extra toilet paper and paper towels. To be fair, the host was willing to ask their cleaning folks if they were available and willing to bring items to the place, and also mentioned that they should have left extra under the kitchen sink. We didn’t feel good about the hosts throwing the cleaning folks under the bus, and went ahead and purchased items on our own.
6. The description says the unit is a bungalow, which typically assumes an individual, standalone unit. But, it’s actually a duplex with shared walls along the unit. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning if you’re looking for a true standalone. We could easily hear our neighbors and didn’t mind, but if our daughter was an infant, I would have felt a bit worried about keeping the neighbors up if she cried.
I would say that if you are single, traveling for business, or even a couple, this is a good, basic place to stay in Pasadena. If you are a family with a young child, or someone that likes to cook while away, it may not be the right fit. We still had a fantastic stay, despite the items listed above. The host was very communicative, and quick to respond if anything came up. The items above weren’t necessarily things that the hosts could “fix” per se, just things to be mindful of if considering the unit for your family.