Great AirBnB with a few unnecessary caveats that ended up detracting from the experience and making me feel uncomfortable, but that could easily be remedied for future guests.
The Good:
- Great location in mission beach, unit was clean with nice furniture and amenities.
- The smart TV was large, modern and worked great. No issues with the Wifi, it was fast enough to stream Netflix/Hulu/HBO, etc.
- The snacks and seltzer water were an unexpected surprise and very much appreciated.
- The kitchen and fridge are substantial (actually a real kitchen and fridge unlike some other AirBnBs), with plenty of silverware and plates and even salt, pepper and olive oil for cooking.
-The bed and sheets were comfy with more than enough pillows. The bathroom was also nicer than expected with a roomy shower and nice shampoo and soap.
The Bad:
- There is a window AC unit, but there is a label on it that you see only after you arrive that says it cannot be lowered below 76. 76 is still quite warm for me personally at night, and I think its reasonable to expect that AC means at least being able to lower the room temperature to 72 degrees. I saw no reason why the unit itself wasn't capable of this, presumably its just an attempt to save a couple dollars on the electricity bill every month without disclosing upfront in the AirBnB description.
- The walls are pretty thin so that you can easily hear people going up and down the stairs and occasionally some loud music or talking from a nearby unit, but luckily everything quieted down around bed time (it was never noticeable after 9PM). There is a loud trash truck that comes around the neighborhood in the morning during the week around 7AM that woke me up every time, but I'm a light sleeper.
- The hosts communication was a little overbearing and unwelcoming, which seemed to be on account of my age and a problem neighbor that has issue with them renting out the unit as an AirBnB. I was repeatedly asked in 3 separate messages during my stay how many people were staying in the unit, despite already filling out that detail in the original reservation request, and giving them the same answer in a timely manner every time they messaged me to ask. The insinuation was that I was lying on the reservation and in my follow up messages, and it felt very discriminatory and aggressive. These messages, along with a couple others, were usually sent with an expectation of an unreasonably quick response (2-3 hours). I felt like I had to be on call 24/7 monitoring for any potential messages from the host during my entire stay, which made an otherwise relaxing and perfectly pleasant stay feel unnecessarily stressful.