I'm writing this review because I feel the need for everyone else to have a complete idea of what went on with our trip, the condition of the listing, and maybe save some of you the experience we had. Be Warned- this review is lengthy, but if you're seriously thinking about this place, I suggest you read on. Everything I write in this post is 100% honest about what happened and if the host replies and says otherwise, it's a lie (he did this to another reviewer). I wish Airbnb would allow pictures on the reviews because I have pictures of everything I'm talking about.
I'm not sure how to start this review, but I'll start by saying that I was giving this place a chance because there were so many good reviews. One guy even said that it was worth every dollar. There was ONLY 1 negative review from a young lady from the reviews I read (it's very recent - maybe within a couple of months of my review more likely even less). She said along the lines of the apartment was filthy, had marks all over the place, and that you were not getting a new apartment, the pics were taken when it was just remodeled. She said the toilet seat was cracked and that she would be fighting for a full refund. The host replied to the effect of she's lying and blamed her bad experience due to the fact she was arguing with her significant other and shaming her that she was doing all she can to get money when he hired ppl to clean the apartment - ppl who work hard to put food on their tables for their family and shame on her. Guys, she's not lying. Everything she said was 100% TRUE.
With the many positive reviews I read, only 1 negative review, and his response I decided to give a try by sending the host a message about our current situation.
I asked for a discount because we have been planning this trip to L.A. for a long time and had to cut our trip short due to financial reasons and his place was a bit out of our budget. He responded fairly quickly with an offer that was better than our original request, so I booked the place. The first thing I realized was that there was a lack of instructions for checking in, so I messaged the host about it and he said he'll give me instructions the morning of. On the day of he messaged us and asked us when we would arrive. We gave him an eta of 4 hrs (we were driving) and he said okay. We kept him updated and thought we were going to meet him in person, but at our .5hr before checking in, we updated him again, and he just gave us the color of the apartment and the number for the lockbox. We thought that was weird, because if he wasn't going to meet us why didn't he just gave us the number earlier, but we brushed it off.
We parked in a spot in front of the place off-streets (the description says there are 3 spots, but there was already another car parked in one spot and not sure of the third spot- we don't care we only have 1 car). Immediately we realized there was a strong smell of Clorox (okay we thought, he cleaned - good sign esp with covid). There were only 2 towels when we had told the host there were 3 of us. There was less than a quarter role of toilet paper. We messaged the host and asked for more toilet paper and another towel, and he apologized and said he'll bring them later. 3 hours later no sign of him coming, so we messaged him again (good thing we brought a few rolls of tp ourselves just in case). We asked if he was coming that same night (about 8 pm now, we contacted him at 5 pm) or the next day. We were there to celebrate my bday and do the things we planned to do, not waiting for when tp and towel is going to show up.
In that three hours, we were tired from our trip and were just watching Netflix in the living room and decided after messaging the host we decided to unpack, but as we did so we realized how filthy the place was. The white curtains shown in the pictures were now yellow and the window sills looked like they had not been cleaned for at least several months at the very least. We questioned whether mold was growing there. I have pictures of them, and they were just covered in black. ALL windows. The doors and walls all had dirty handprints, footprints, fingerprints, and shoeprints. The listing said basic toiletries were provided i.e. toothpaste and mouthwash but we found a bag of dental picks, a disgusting tube of toothpaste, and an empty mini travel mouthwash; don't forget the barely anything roll of tp that was provided for 3 days for 3 people. There were no hand towels. The toilet seat was indeed cracked, not just cracked but more like split. There was plenty of shampoo and conditioner. There were also two loofas (not sure if you want to risk that). There was absolutely no privacy, not even in the bedroom. The curtain in the bedroom was about 2inches above the window sill and from the outside at eye level, you can see the bed. If you wanted to, you can see EVERYTHING in the room. There were two fans provided that were rusty and were not cleaned. The fans were covered in dust balls. It looked like someone had just decided to throw some kind of liquid on the ceiling in the living room and it was never cleaned. We found a big blob of what seemed like bbq sauce in the cupboards and the