First note: This was my first Air BnB experience, so I don't have anything to measure against...

The host reached out to me about a week before we were to stay and provided a cell phone number to reach me at. We did not see her until the last day as we were leaving but she seemed pleasant and was very welcoming. The area, Noe Valley, is adorable and 24th street is a close walk. We loved The Griddle for brunch and Fresca - a peruvian place for dinner (though don't go there for a quick meal, they move at their own pace). Also, if you stay here, check out Mitchell's ice cream on San Jacinto (I think). Every Uber driver knew about it and it was the real, homemade deal.
Samantha provides a well stocked kitchen, which was nice as we were able to make ourselves food for the day. The apartment is easy to find and close, we think, to most public transportation - though we relied on Uber. The bed is fairly comfortable and we had nice quite evenings watching the DVDs provided once we were done sight seeing. Samantha also provided extra blankets, which helped with my Texan bones getting used to the "chill".
If there were any negatives it would be that you could hear the family walking around above - which is something neither my friend nor I were used to- but I doubt it could be avoided & it wasn't too loud, and the shower curtain could use a cleaning. The water pressure was fantastic though and the shower got quite warm (which was nice as a Texan in San Fran).
Other than that the place was clean and comfortable - we had no problem resting our heads when our sight seeing was done.