In this case, I believe it is very important to distinguish between the host and the apartment she is renting on Airbnb but if you are in a hurry and only read the first few lines do not ever book this apartment because it presents a health hazard.
To learn more about it, please read below.
Before checking in I found Aly to be attentive and listening; in fact, when I told her that I tend to react to very aggressive soaps she washed all bed sheets, towels etc. with a hypoallergenic soap and even bought new Teflon pots and pans after I let her know my concerns for the health hazard that scratched Teflon cookware represents.
On the day of my arrival, she allowed for anticipated check in and apologized for some repairment to the electrical wiring that would have been done only on the same day.
Regarding Aly’s studio apartment instead, I would not recommend it to anyone, in fact my stay there was cut short by a serious issue and a request for a full refund was forwarded to Airbnb.
The problem, which is beyond the host capability to remediate, and was recognized as a Travel Issue by Airbnb, is constant noise coming from a large tube (about 30-40 cm diameter) that is connected to an industrial exhaust fan used by a restaurant on the floor below, there was no mention of this noise on the Airbnb listing.
The tube runs inches from the apartment windows and act as a resonance chamber amplifying the noise from the exhaust fan machinery that is located on the roof of the building directly above the studio.
The humming noise, loud to the point that I found a pack of ear plugs behind the restroom mirror, perhaps left there by some other unlucky guest who had to cancel for the same reason, is present for 12 to 14 hours each day except when the restaurant is closed.
In addition to this noise, on the day of my arrival there was also another noise from an old air conditioner generator that is also located on the roof above the unit and also used by the restaurant below.
The latter was so loud that it covered the noise from the exhaust fan, but the host promised to remediate within a couple of days, and I made the error of trusting her and not leaving the apartment immediately.
In fact, by the time the noise from the air conditioner generator was fixed as promised, but the noise from the exhaust fan was still present, I already stayed in the apartment for 48 hours and lost the possibility of a full refund as per Airbnb rules.
Another issue that is not evident from the Airbnb photos, though this was not the reason for leaving and asking a refund, is the lack of natural light as the exhaust fan tube and the sloping roof of the building add up to shade the small windows of the apartment forcing you to keep the lights turned on at all times.
This is very different from the photos on the Airbnb listing, that show a brightly sun lighted small studio.
Another issue, admittedly less serious, was the very slow (under 10Mbps) Internet connectivity.
When informed the host proposed to remediate with a new router but I found that my laptop connected to the existing router at over 600Mbps while the AT&T’s router settings webpage reported a 10Mbps link speed, probably what is offered by the cheapest AT&T’s DSL contract.
The last issue worth mentioning, excluding the occasional high-volume music until 2 am when there are events in the night club below because that was indeed mentioned, is a worn bathtub haphazardly covered with a thick plastic anti-slip mat.