Julie decided to enter our unit without our consent. She didn’t call, didn’t text, just came right through. My wife was in the shower at the moment. As she heard the “stairs latch door,” she got out in a towel and found Julie walking through our space, trying to get to the shared laundry room. She was not sorry, and my wife confronted her and recorded the incident with her cell phone. Julie rudely spoke to us often and especially on this occasion, as she felt it was her right to walk right through our privacy. That same night, Julie got upset because we didn’t move our car from the public street because her friends were coming to visit. I couldn’t believe it. We, the paying guests, were asked to move our cars from the public street so that her friends could be closer to the main house door. That is not acceptable. We didn’t have assigned, or reserved parking spots, and the street is game for anyone. I think there are ways to ask things, and decent communication with proper manners could have produced a different outcome.
I called Julie the same night, and she did not want to speak about it. She said she had friends over and ignored my complaint. I don’t think she was even listening to me. I clarified that we were upset, and she asked if we could discuss it the next day. I never heard back from her, and she did not sound apologetic.
On another occasion, we left things on the way on purpose, and they were shifted when we came back. She even took our recycling, without asking, from within four own unit and never even mentioned it. We also noticed we would leave our lights on during the day, so when we returned, it would be dark outside, but we would come back to find the lights off.
We filed a claim with Airbnb and canceled our reservation early for safety.
On another note, I don’t think Julie can operate the AirBnB. She seems to be having health issues related to her age. I’m not trying to be mean, I’m just staying obvious. I would not recommend this place to anyone looking for a well-managed stay and a pleasant experience.
Besides the communication and hospitality issues, we found multiple things that bothered us while staying there. They are:
Slow internet. It was faster just to use our cell phone hotspots. My video calls could not be sustained, and audio delays while conferencing for my work.
One day within the first week, Julie asked me to water the outdoor garden since we were now guests in her “apartment” and were going to use the patio. By the way, it’s not an apartment. It’s a unit built into the main house but downstairs.
Asking me to do house installations from day 1. She wanted me to install new blinds. I declined immediately and told her that was not my job.
She mispronounced our names after we repeatedly told her what our names are.
Not answering text messages or Airbnb messages. She only communicates by calling.
Forgetting her laundry in the laundry room for days at a time. The first time she asked to do laundry (since it's shared space), she left her laundry in the washer the whole week. She started at 10 am and, by 5 pm, was still walking in and out through our space instead of going around the back where there is a separate entrance to the laundry room. She yelled at my wife on that occasion for locking the outside door (which she should have a key to btw). Yelling at a guest should never be okay.
Daily shifting of furniture upstairs and loud thumping sounds.
The pantry was full of someone else’s food when we first checked in. We had to put that food in boxes to fit ours. Also, only half of the closet was available for our clothes because the other closet was full of someone else’s clothes. It felt like someone was just living there, and we came to live in their home. All Airbnb I ever check into always feels clean, and there is a vibe of clean space. That was not the case with this unit. It felt like we walked into someone’s day-to-day home and living space.
The dishes in the kitchen were dirty. The kitchenette is tiny. The power goes out when you turn on the kitchenette and microwave simultaneously. The surge protector does its job, but the electrical on the unit needs some work. The refrigerator is tiny. You cannot fit a lot of food in it. It is made for snacks and light shopping, not regular ongoing living.
The sheets on the bed were not clean when we arrived. Pillows and mattresses had lots of stains. We took everything off the bed and put it in the laundry room on the first day. We went to Costco to buy our pillows and sheets because we were grossed out.