We had a wonderful stay in Ethan’s space especially when we’re talking about the bed itself which made our morning amazing thanks to how comfy the bed is. Everything else in the unit was amazing even though there were some slight furniture and lighting differences in the photos in the AirBnb page. The restroom was spacious and the same thing can be said with the kitchen and the bedroom. The outdoor balcony was peaceful and you’ll get a good view of some parts of the cityscape of Downtown Oakland.
We would love to go back to this unit for a future trip; however, we had some problems with the laundry and the dryer being filled with other people’s laundry where we had to remove them ourselves twice within our 1 week of stay. It didn’t bother us though, but we had to make some slight changes with our schedule because of the situation. The dryer and the washer were downstairs and they both work perfectly which we really appreciate. Another problem that we encountered was that, while there were a lot of windows you can open to let some air in, our first night in the unit was a little bit uncomfortable because it was really hot inside. When we entered the unit from outside, you’ll feel the change in the temperature. The ceiling fan in the photo wasn’t strong enough to cool us off. We had to buy our own fan from the Target nearby, but the next following nights the temperature outside went lower. One more problem we had was simply the neighborhood. While the street itself was peaceful (I only saw 2 live cars went on that street for the entire week), the unit is in Oakland and there’s a lot of homeless and crazy people. You will see them, but they’re a couple of blocks away from the unit itself that’s why we made it a rule to come back to the unit before sunset. We also got locked out for a couple minutes outside of the gate because it won’t budge open even though we entered the right set of numbers, but I think the lock itself needed some oil on it.
Other than that, it’s one of the more better units we’ve stayed on. Very spacious, you feel free doing what you need and want to do, got a pretty good view of some of the buildings of Oakland, the TV is available with most of the top media apps installed with some apps already logged in so it’s ready for media consumption whenever you are, basically it was money well spent. The positives outweigh the negatives and I think the negatives here are nitpicky.
POSITIVES:
+ Spacious unit through and through
+ Amazing bed
+ TV ready to go
+ Lots of windows (with blinders)
+ Just a few minutes away from San Francisco
+ Probably the sweet spot (literally) for your access to what the Bay Area can offer
+ That wonderful purple house in front of the unit
+ Peaceful street (80% - 90% chance of finding space for street parking)
+ Decorations
+ Balcony
+ The provided shampoo and body wash were both amazing
+ Ethan was very responsive
NEGATIVES:
⁃Windows and a weak ceiling fan to cool yourself
⁃There were some nights when we feel unsafe due to it being in Oakland (but we chose to stay here, we know)
⁃There’s a learning curve trying to get through the security gate and the door
⁃Thin walls and floor
⁃The mentioned inconvenience with the washer and dryer