Overall, my cousin (Sanita) and I enjoyed our stay in Denise's apartment.
HOST: As a host, Denise is helpful, friendly and proactive in providing suggestions on what might help our experience in LA more memorable. She was happy to answer any questions we had, which was certainly helpful for first time visitors such as ourselves.
LOCATION: In terms of location, it was in a great/central location for what we intended to see and do whilst in Los Angeles (e.g. Visit Hollywood Walk of Fame, Universal Studios, Beverly Hills etc.). There is a Ralph's 24 hour grocery store which was only a 5 minute (or so) walk up the road that was very handy for purchasing everyday items or food.
*Please Note* unlike other areas we visited in the US (e.g. New York City) which have several public transport options available across the city, LA is certainly more spread out as a city, with pretty much everyone relying on their cars to get around. We really recommend hiring a car during your stay, otherwise you will find it difficult visiting sites that are further (e.g. Venice Beach or Disneyland). If you want to feel secure by parking the car inside as opposed to on the street, please take Denise's advise in making sure it's a smaller/compact car (we had a Camaro which couldn't fit in the parking space so we parked on the street instead).
If you can't hire a car and intend on staying local, the Uber App is great to use (and much cheaper than getting a taxi).
APARTMENT: The apartment is quite spacious/spread out, with ample storage space, comfortable beds and the utilities you need (fridge/kitchen appliances, washer/dryer, towels, air-conditioning units and fans in the living rooms and bedrooms).
We understand that there are cleaners that come before and after our stay - the only thing we would suggest as an area of opportunity is to have them be a bit more thorough with their cleaning (as the apartment overall seemed nice, but there were still some elements that felt "lived-in" such as the bed linen (we washed them upon arrival as we weren't completely confident that they were clean) and a wet towel being left in the dryer). At the end of the day, we understand that it's not a hotel, but little things like that make an incredible difference (especially since we used airbnb in San Francisco as well, with that apartment "setting the standard" of what we expected so to speak).
Apart from that, we enjoyed our time in LA and hope to return one day in the future! Thank you Denise for sharing your apartment with us :-)
- Helena and Sanita (Australia/The Netherlands)