We stayed for a little over 2 months... Beware—- take note and pictures of the condition of apartment at the time of arrival. Note and take inventory of EVERYTHING, from a missing screw on the fold up bed, bed skirts present or not, if there are stains on the wall, condition of the pots and pans and grime on stove, etc. Read below:
-The cleaning fee that’s charged upon arrival doesn’t go towards the actual cleaning from your stay. So who knows where the initial $200 cleaning fee goes because you are still expected to deep clean the place upon departure (never communicated on reservation). If not, you will be charged a separate cleaning fee. We actually spent some time loading the dishwasher, wiping counters, throwing the garbage, and putting our dirty sheets/towels in a pile before we left (which she took pictures and complained of). Granted it wasn’t a deep professional clean, which we didn’t realize she expected of us.
-We were blamed for the rust and grime accumulating around the burners of the 25+ year old stove. Clearly, this ancient stove was not in new condition or sparkly white before our stay and we cleaned it as best we could (wasn’t even working during half our stay). She also noted that the very old pots and pans needed a deep clean, which we used normally and even cleaned before leaving.
-The bathroom towel hooks are attached to the wall by double sided sticky tape. One was missing one upon arrival (clearly not the best way to hang hooks) and we were blamed and charged for this.
-Due to the type of hook, there’s no getting around the towels touching the wall and staining them (use a real towel rack or don’t use dark gray towels!). She charged us $150 to repaint.
-The heavy, fold-up queen-sized bed in the main bedroom was kept tucked away during our entire stay, since we used the room as an office. The bed almost fell on us a number of times trying to get it to fold up and was missing screws upon arrival. We were blamed for the condition of the bed.
-She charged us for a missing bed skirt that was never present upon arrival. That’s the last thing we would ever bother washing, or removing... really?
-Make sure the garbage disposal, oven and dishwasher are all working during your stay, as none of them were in working order for half of our stay (we sadly found out the oven wasn’t working during Thanksgiving while trying to roast our turkey). Thankfully, we contacted the host about these items and she did fix them, otherwise no doubt she would have made us responsible for these items as well.
-Don’t keep anything valuable in the garage. Although it’s locked and the space is all the way in the back, far away from the street, our two bikes that were locked up were still stolen.
-The shared dryer located just across the hall from the main bedroom is broken and is VERY noisy when on. We did not sleep in the room on the first floor for this reason.
-It would have been great to have a hamper as it’s one of those things you don’t want to buy but definitely need if staying longer than a month.
-The side door closest to the apartment doesn’t open easily, so you have to take the long way up the 4 sets of stairs and down the hall when entering from the garage. Still need keys for all doors even though apartment door is keyless.
-There is NO elevator, so lugging your luggage up and down four sets of stairs is NOT fun.
-One small little room heater provided for the entire apartment (no central heating) and it gets very cold!
The pluses:
-The size of dining table
-Cute furniture (uncomfortable bed)
-Host fixed oven, dish washer and garbage disposal upon request
-Patio with furniture (although too dirty to sit on)
-TV had streaming options (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc)