Unfortunately the apartment and stay didn't quite meet my expectations:
- upon arrival at the house, there is a gate to get to the door. It was locked, and I was never informed of what the code is. I had to jump the gate; otherwise I would have sat there for a while waiting for a response. Yes, I was allowed an earlier check-in (I arrived at 3:00, as opposed to the 4:00 check-in), but had I arrived at 4:00, I would have encountered the same thing. Not sure why this door code isn't simply given at check-in instructions.
- had issues with the app used to open the door. After some back-and-forth with Mercy (and Kevin), they did leave a key in case there were further issues - but this issue happened shortly after the gate issue, so I was already starting to question my decision to stay here and it was only 6pm on my day of check-in.
- later that evening, I realized there was no thermostat. Luckily it was a cool enough night, but when I picked a place I filtered "Air Conditioning". I don't like sleeping with the window open especially this being slightly sub-ground floor, and there is no barrier between the window and sidewalk/street. Also I wasn't sure what kind of noise would take place in the AM. (It was quiet - but I did have windows closed and a loud sound machine)
- The next morning as I went to make breakfast the stovetop wouldn't work. I specifically chose a place that had a stovetop. I messaged the owner about it, and heard back over 12 hours later. Owner claimed her phone died with a sim card failure. I understand things happen, and maybe it was just coincidental / unfortunate, but definitely didn't help.
- after shaving at the bathroom sink, I noticed a pool of water underneath - the pipe was gently leaking. Luckily I had nothing down there, I wiped it up, and just didn't run the water as long for the rest of my stay to avoid this. It seemed like the leak only occurred when running for a longer period of time, so I was cognizant of this the rest of my stay. A minor inconvenience - but again - adding it to the already laundry list that had occurred within the first 18 hours of me being there. Additionally, this happened a couple hours after I messaged the owner about the stove top and didn't hear back, so I was not about to add yet another issue to the list.
At this point I left for the day, not needing to be back until night, and I was checking out the next day. I luckily did not encounter any more issues. Overall it was not a positive experience and I won't be back. Not sure if this was a fluke, because all other reviews were positive, but I'd recommend them looking into the above and either changing some things their listing has ("A/C", "Stovetop") - had I known these really weren't available, I wouldn't have stayed here.
Mercy did refund me $75, unsolicited. It was a very nice gesture in an attempt to remediate all that occurred with the stovetop and app issues, although since I was traveling for work and didn't pay for the stay, it didn't really do much to help me. Mercy does seem kind and like she wants to be helpful, so hopefully this will be productive feedback for a better stay for others in the future.