DO NOT BOOK - RODENT INFESTATION - FORCED TO LEAVE EARLY
The check-in was fairly easy but that was the only good thing about my stay. Even then the checkin procedures were not provided until I arrived at the front door. There was no advance info provided other than the address.
The room you book is small and similar to a white clam shell. The sliding door is not well attached to the sliding mechanism and does not inspire confidence in safety or security. The external keyed lock is a latch; unless you twist the lock closed, there is a possibility of being locked in. The internal lock is a chain slide bolt, which you must angle the door a lil farther than it wants to go to catch. The room has two small windows with screens (for ventilation), of which only one has a privacy shade. In order to ventilate, you must sacrifice privacy for airflow. This is especially true as two other tenant rooms are next to yours and must pass by your windows to exit the stairwell.
There is a powerful AC unit at the top of the stairwell. Downsides are that it does not run all day, as other tenants turn it off, and it does pump air into your room unless your door is wide open. The host offered a small box fan which helped a lil until it broke a few days into the rental. The host offered to reimburse me for another cheap ($10 max) model but that is all she was willing to do. As a result, I "rented" a fan from Target. To cool the room upon return, my ritual was AC on full blast, door and windows open on unit, and personally-rented fan on to circulate cool air inside.
The bed mattress was uncomfortable and flat; one could feel the frame through it. The sheets were not fitted to the mattress, so often while turning to stay cool, the cooler sheets would pull off the frame.
On day one, I learned that hot and cold indicators were reversed on all water in the kitchen and shower. This resulted in an unnecessarily cold shower on day one.
At some point I as contacted by BnB support via the app and my phone unexpectedly. I learned that, rather than addressing the issue with me directly, the host (who does not live in the state) contacted BnB to mediate my displeasure with the temperature of the unit. I should have take this as a red-flag that this host was not the most hospitable and very much a landlord-type without respect for the guest.
On 8/18 around 930am, I woke up and walked downstair to find a complete stranger in the living room. No other tenants were awake and the stranger had let himself in. After conversing with him and the host, I learned that he is an exterminator looking for rats reported by the other tenant who quickly moved out and that the host has given him the code to let himself in. So...-NO NOTICE and NO SECURITY. IMO the host needs to either be their or have a proxy, listed as a co-host, let people in, not just give them the (digital) keys to the house. Suffice to say, the code was never changed thereafter. Also, when I asked the host about this, she pushed back to say that I didn't have to invite him into my room and could have said no. Again, she offers no help and pushes responsibility on the guest to set limits with a stranger she let in.
The exterminator patched some holes and went on his way.
The empty room of the other tenant was empty now and had an AC unit en suite. I enquired if this was a suitable exchange for a room. Although she said yes, she then hesitantly explained,
"...given there are mice still running amuck in the house i don't feel comfortable you staying for sanitation purposes while I suss it out. There's also the section in the attic walls they ate through that needs to be redone so I will ask airbnb to find you a better accommodation and refund you accordingly. So sorry for this sudden change but absolutely I cannot have guests over while a mice are nesting nearby. Will be sure t to refund the remainder of your stay so you can use it for the next place. Thanks so much for your understanding, feel free to ask me anything else as I'll be on the premises this afternoon."
Now she was pushing me out while in LA for work without any time to arrange alternate arrangements. Every alternate option was either too far from my work (I only have a car and only a bicycle) or expensive (as this was last moment). Whenever I saw an available option, it was quickly reserved by another person. I was close to homelessness at this point with no extension of the timeline from the host.
Eventually, I found housing on my own outside of BnB. They have helped to get refund but very much at the expense of my mental health. Queena the host is not ready to be a host and I recommend that BnB blacklist her until all renovation have been made. I feel most sorry for her permanent residents there who must live in her rat-infested attic.
DO NOT BOOK - RODENT INFESTATION - FORCED TO LEAVE EARLY