First, the good. Our host was very pleasant and called ahead of time to say he would find an extra bike to accommodate our family. The loft is very spacious. Charlie the turtle is awesome, and our kids loved being able to feed him. The ability to park your vehicle in the private garage is nice.

There are some negative point to make, however. Communication with the host can be somewhat difficult, mostly due to his busy schedule. This is my first trip to Long Beach, but it appears that the location is right on the edge between areas you'd want to stay (close to the coast) and areas you'd want to avoid. Moving inland one block puts you in an area you probably want to avoid. The main first floor entry cannot be used from the outside because it can only be unlocked from the inside (deadbolt doesn't function as it should). This means you're likely carrying your luggage from the garage up two flights of stairs to the second floor entrance.

The bigger concern, overall, was that the loft wasn't very clean. I don't mean surface cleaning, but deeper cleaning. The wood floors were perfectly swept, for instance, but the air vents, fans, etc. had a very thick coating of dust. The walls are in need of cleaning and probably a coat of paint.

Overall, I wouldn't consider this a negative experience. We had enough room, and access to parking. For the price we paid, however, there could certainly be some improvements made.