Mike and Anna helped us out of a bind when another rental canceled our reservation at the last minute. They graciously allowed us to check in a little early which was much appreciated.

Pluses: The rental is in a good location and is a nice size, on the top floor which means you don't have to deal with noisy people walking around above you:) There is no air conditioning but this wasn't an issue -- even though the temps were unusually high during our visit (up to 86 in February!) it cooled off nicely in the evening for sleeping. The neighborhood is charming - the rental is on a frontage road of a main street but we found it to be very quiet. We enjoyed walking in the morning and found numerous places nearby to get coffee. The beds were comfortable, the showers had plenty of hot water.

Minuses: While the photos are fairly representative of the apartment, we found it to be well worn and needing some attention, probably because it's rented so frequently and not vacant for long periods when updates could be done. There were some cleaning issues that were explained away by us needing to check in early, but some of the things we pointed out hadn't been touched in months. When we noticed the sofa and accompanying pillows were a little fragrant (not in a good way), Mike did his best to accommodate our concerns and had the cushion covers washed on a day we were out of the apartment. He was present and available to us almost every day we were there, so that was helpful in managing our concerns.

Other concerns: Bedroom carpets were stained and it seemed they had not been vacuumed - if they had, then the vacuum probably needs to be fixed. The dishes needed to be washed before they were used, likely because of a reliance on previous renters to keep things clean and maybe not a lot of time to check on those things between bookings. Cabinets were grimy, kitchen towels were stained and I wasn't sure if they had been washed and the stains just didn't come out or if they were used and put back dirty. Mike indicated this was on their list of things to purchase.

Overall we were disappointed with this rental given the glowing reviews from previous guests, but perhaps we have different standards and expectations of cleanliness than most. We have rented from other companies for 10 years (VRBO, HomeAway, Vacation Rental by Owner) and unfortunately our experience at this rental would fall to the bottom of our list.

Again, we do appreciate Mike and Anna renting to us, especially with this being our first Airbnb experience. Hopefully they will see our comments as factual and constructive, and take something away from them that will benefit their future guests.