Zero stars.
Avoid this host and all their airbnbs at all costs.
I can easily say without hesitation that Dalton (now his name’s changed to Juan, even though the profile picture remains the same?!) is the least accommodating, least empathetic, and least welcoming host I’ve ever encountered. I have a hunch this potentially fictional person is hired by various properties to manage a bunch of Airbnb listings around LA - and just does a bad job. I stayed at this particular Airbnb for a month and there were 2 encounters with Dalton/Juan/whoever that led me to writing this review. Staying here ultimately wasn’t the end of the world, but really, if you have options - which, trust me, you do - I couldn’t possibly recommend it less. There’s just no point. More context below:
I’ve stayed in at least 60 Airbnbs throughout my life so far, including fully living off of Airbnb for the past year as I’ve been nomading. I’ve come across all types of hosts and all types of homes, low end to high end. My requirements typically are: clean place, good wifi, decent location, and communicative host whenever necessary.
TWO MONTHS ahead of my stay, I booked this place accidentally. As I’ve been nomading, I get a new airbnb every 2-4 weeks. This place was on my shortlist but as I decided against it, I accidentally booked it (I suppose this was bound to happen at some point). I kindly immediately messaged Dalton/Juan/whatever their name is to explain what happened, hoping he can naturally understand and accept my full refund cancellation request. He did not accept to cancel (despite the very unique accident, despite me only removing his listing off the market for literally 1 minute, and despite that 1 minute incident happening TWO MONTHS ahead of booking…although my beef is not this), but he was as brief, unaccommodating, and stern as can be. Not even pretending to care. Just a robot response insinuating I‘ll just have to deal with it.
What this meant was that I was now stuck with a PITA host - which really wouldnt be a problem typically. Except… during my month-long stay, I got a notice on the door that the landlord is looking to enter the home within 24 hours. I messaged Dalton/Juan/whoever to let him know I wasn’t comfortable with this and politely requested the timing be adjusted (I’m working from the apartment). I again receive a robotic, stern, and combative response. Which is pretty ridiculous given that he didn’t care to check in about this when he found out or express that it could be an inconvenience. The next day the inspector showed up with 3 people asking to enter the apartment, none of them wearing masks. Fun stuff.
To properly review the home itself, here’s an overview of pros and cons: clean street, barely acceptably neat building, pretty clean apartment. The garage is fully a dumpster. The washer dryer in the garage are equally filthy and totally unusable (I never once saw the top of the washer/dryer clear of messy clothes…idk whose). Zero (really though, ZERO) sound insulation. If you’re a light sleeper, forget about this place. There’s always construction noises or someone yelling or laughing at odd hours. Theres a school a block away and we could very clearly hear each word of the school announcements during the week. Super weird, but the bathroom’s obnoxiously bright white light and aggressively loud ventilator (which cant be controlled separately) randomly turn on on their own accord in the middle of the night. 5 times throughout my 4 week stay I got woken up by that. The blinds in the living room (which are strategically closed in the listing photos) are hiding a view to another shady looking apartment building with barbed wire fencing.
Oh! To give a little more color to the ambiance of the building’s residents + lack of sound insulation: one morning I got woken up by a policeman in the hallway knocking on the neighbor’s door. This was the neighbor next door and I could hear the entire conversation loud and clear (I woke up from deep sleep) until the policeman entered their apartment.
I typically either keep my reviews short and sweet or just don’t post a review at all…but this whole situation just begged for a proper review. Needless to say, I will always avoid all of this host’s Airbnbs.