I will review this for what it is, and not what I thought it would be. I thought I would have the "whole home" (or air bnb section) to myself, which I did. It is not however set up for this purpose.
What this AirBnB is: It is a 2 bedroom hotel with a common area shared by 1 or more guests. Because I had the "whole home" booked, I did not share my stay with anyone else. This is _not_ a whole home, and does not come with an expected layout if you're looking for a "whole home."
This AirBnB is a total of 2 master bedrooms, and a kitchenette that's shared between them. There is a small dining table, with no entertainment nearby. There are no windows in the kitchenette either. I say this to make the point that it's not a friendly place to eat meals.
There is a large TV in each bedroom, and there are sliding glass doors that lead out to Connie's beautiful garden area. This layout kind of "locks" you into your bedroom unless you need to do something in the kitchen. There is no living area to sit back and relax other than your bed.
For a 2 bedroom hotel, situated in a decent area in SF, this listing is great! However, if you're not looking for a hotel experience, be warned because the hotel experience is what you're getting.
One more nit pick before I get to the good stuff. All things considered, I do not think we should have to pay to use the washers and dryers. I was going to pay before I saw the price of $4/machine! Connie, please include this in the price of your AirBnB and just allow the guests to use the washer and dryer for free. You'll end up making more in the end because not everyone is going to use your washer and dryer. It'll also be a nicer customer experience.
The good stuff:
- The neighborhood is quite different from your typical suburban neighborhood, but it's quiet and seemed pretty peaceful.
- The AirBnB is UPDATED!!! Connie did a wonderful job making the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchenette look very modern and nice! Connie definitely has your typical hotel beat in terms of quality!
- Connie is very responsive!
- The beds are super comfy!
- Personal thermostats! There's one in each bedroom and that's quite nice to have when needed. I did not need mine since SF weather is so awesome all the time, but it's cool to know that's an option.
- Lighting is quite nice in the bedrooms!
- I need to mention it again, but this AirBnB is updated to the nines! It certainly seems like Connie spared no expense when it came to making the place look nice!
- The TVs are nice!
The mediocre stuff:
- The entrance to the AirBnb is only partially secured. The path is: Enter into the garage side door, which is secured by a PIN code, then walk through the garage and your AirBnb is unsecured. Then each bedroom within the AirBnB is secured with an individual PIN code. I do not like that if someone gains entry to the garage, they automatically gain entry to the "private" space I'm renting. I imagine it's set up this way so Connie can book 2 strangers to occupy the bedrooms at the same time. That being said, this can be easily resolved with a lock that requires a key.
- The codes to each of the bedrooms, AND the entrance were all the same. If one lock is compromised, they all are. This is like using the same passwords on multiple websites, but the things that you're securing are all of your physical belongings and potentially some very sensitive PII. (Like passports.)
- There's a house rule that your TV volume can't be louder than 6/100. While this was sufficient for me, I _know_ this is too low for others. I could barely hear my TV while sitting in the same room with it. Thankfully I didn't need to turn it up higher than this to make out the dialogue of what I was watching, but I could just barely which isn't a great experience.
- I also noticed that the doorbell to the entire home (Connie lives upstairs, and the AirBnb is downstairs in the Garage) is inside the AirBnB unit. When Connie had a guest over, it rang incessantly and was quite disturbing.