I wrote this review with my honesty to give some sincere advice to travelers who are considering choosing Azu’s house. All comments are based on real experience without fabrication. (Related photos can be given if needed) Also you can actually find similar comments from previous reviews regarding particular issues.
Azu’s house is a fabulous place to stay, but ONLY for several types of people who：
Do Not mind being monitored: The host lives in the unit connected to the house with only a wall separated.(You never know this until you check in) She can see everything you are doing in the house through the windows, unless every time she passes by the windows with eyes closed. She literally speculated what you were doing based on what she heard behind the wall. When I washed the pots for cooking (because most of pots and dishes in the cupboard were not clean with oil sticked on them), the rattling sound caused by pots hitting the sink made the host ask me if I was cutting a horse in her house. (Come on, cutting open a horse is gross)
Enjoy appreciating a good looking kitchen without actually using it: Because the stove knobs were all stuck by unknown stuff or broken. When I asked for help for having trouble turning on the stoves, the host accused me of damaging the stoves.(That was the first time I tried to cook, just a few hours hours after I checked in) Of course, if you do use the kitchen to cook, even if afterwards you clean up everything, she would still charge you extra fee for cooking, and of course, “ruining” her house. (not too much, just like…Ummm… a hundred bucks)
Do Not have a requirement for cleanness: The towels and the rug in the bathroom were mostly dirty with colored patches. I took some photos of them after being accused of damaging the stove knobs just in case being accused again.
Have hearing disabilities: Therefore, you do not need to bear the continual dog barks of neighbours’ and Azu’s cute dogs from early mornings to late nights.
I understand Azu treasures her house, so I tried my best to live in with care and make it look like the same as I checked in. But as she registered it as airbnb for earning money, she should be more comfortable with people’s normal use and utility consumption. Kitchen is for cooking. Sink is for washing. Table is for eating. Every time after I used the kitchen, I cleaned up all the dishes, bowls, forks, and pots. Before I left, I knelt on the floor to wipe it with paper towels because there were no mops nor rags. (I treated Azu’s house with even more care than treating my own place)
I hope Azu can be more clear about stating her house rules in the profile. Because before I booked it, under the housing rule, there was only one rule saying “No shoes in the house.” But after I booked it, after the time limit for refund, and just half an hour before I checked in, she sent me a whole bunch of rules to follow, like respect her personal belongs which scattered around the house and no extra guests or so. On Friday night, I invited my friends to the house to have dinner together for the celebration of Lunar New Year. My friends stayed in the house for only a couple hours just for cooking and eating the dumplings we made, and no extra guests stayed overnight. Also no loud music was played. Before everyone had the dinner, we first shared our dishes with our host, Azu, thanking her for hosting us and apologizing for any inconvenience we might make. Before midnight, we finished all the washing and the cleaning. My last friend left the house at 00:14. For the following days, I made no noise ( I didn’t really talk in the house) cause there was always someone hearing behind the wall.
To better clean the dishes (and also the ones in the sink were already mouldy) , I bought a new dish towel. Since there were no rags or mops to clean the floor, I bought a bunch of paper towels and left the rest of them in Azu’s house.
I did not request money for buying daily supplies that the house lacked.
I did not complain for the unclean towels in the bathroom.
I did not grumble the offence of personal privacy.
But I was fined hundred bucks for having one meal with friends in Azu’s house, even though I carefully cleaned up everything.
Scroll down the reviews, and you will find out that I am not the first one nor the only guest being squeezed money from.