This place was reasonably affordable and in a convenient location, but it worked poorly for our group due to some maintenance issues and insufficient supplies. I’m not sure when Aiko last visited the house, as the mailbox was visibly overflowing with mail. This house could work well for you if you don’t really plan to use the kitchen or washer and are either fine with a wet bathroom floor or with bringing your own extra towels. My group travels frequently and has stayed in Airbnbs around the world. We didn’t feel that this one met the standards we’ve come to expect from our prior stays with Airbnb.
One of the draws of Airbnb for us is being able to stay in a homelike place where we can save time and money by cooking meals while traveling. Our two experienced chefs discovered while trying to cook eggs that the main stovetop burner on the front left wasn't functioning properly. It got unusually hot and would not cool down—even after turning the setting down to level 3. The burner got so hot at the low setting that it started smoking in the little alley kitchen. There is no window in the kitchen to aerate the smoke. We became concerned about a possible fire breaking out and looked for a fire extinguisher. The extinguisher was not in the open and it’s location was not obvious. We opened several cupboards and eventually found one in a kitchen cupboard.
The toaster was 3/4 broken. Only one coil panel of one side of the toaster worked, so it took 4x as long as normal to toast a bagel because you had to toast one side at a time. There were plenty of water glasses, but not enough mugs for everyone in our party of 7 to have one, so people had to share mugs or contemplate drinking hot coffee from a glass, which seems ill-advised.
I reported these issues to Aiko and she offered to look at the stovetop after we departed. She offered to reimburse us if we wanted to go out and buy the house a new toaster. We were in town for less than 48 hours, so we were not about to spend some of that precious time shopping for toasters. We did end up going to a store to buy laundry detergent for the washer because two of our guests desperately needed to do laundry, as they were in between two work trips. Aiko did warn us in advance that she doesn’t provide detergent, but I didn’t receive that information until the week of the reservation and I was already traveling by that point. The house was otherwise amply stocked in terms of toiletries and cleaning supplies. I donated the remaining laundry soap that I bought for the next guests to use.
Aiko warned in her instructions email that she provides exactly one bath towel per person and that you should bring your own towels if you want more. You won’t find an extra towel anywhere in the house. Unless you’re doing constant laundry (with your own detergent that you brought from home or bought in town), having extra towels is necessary to keep the place and the people clean. Aiko’s instructions warned us that the bathtub leaks. As she warned, it did leak, even though we only used it for showers. We are responsible adults and don’t leave water on the bathroom floor. One of our guests used his sole bath towel to mop up water that leaked from the tub onto the floor after his shower. He then didn’t have a clean towel to use for the rest of the weekend because we didn’t have time to wash his towel before heading out for the day.
It was cold at night. If the home has heat, we couldn’t figure out how to heat it. We tried adjusting the two thermostats we saw, but I guess they were older thermostats as they had no numbers or writing on them. We guessed at what direction might indicate heat and it did not seem to make a difference or activate any heating system. I did not ask Aiko about the thermostat because by this point I had already raised a few issues. If there were instructions somewhere on how to turn on the heat, I missed them.
It’s okay to have a leaky bathtub, but I wish that the listing had noted the issue with the tub, especially when it is the only shower in the apartment. I didn't find out about it until the week of the reservation, and by then it was too late to cancel and find another property. If the tub is leaking, I really think the host should provide extra towels. I suggested providing more towels to Aiko and she was responsive and courteous; it sounded like she would provide more towels to future guests. I hope that these comments help future guests have fully functioning kitchen appliances, laundry detergent, a readibly visible fire extinguisher, and sufficient towels so that they can feel comfortable as guests. This place was far from awful, but we did not have a homelike experience here given the numerous unideal issues. We would not go back if the maintenance and supply issues remain unchanged.