The best aspect of the stay was the location. It was in the middle of just about everything and a very walkable distance to San Diego Comic-Con, which was the reason for our stay. The building is very old and the elevator is clearly a relic from the '30s or '40s. But the unit itself was fairly nice and aside from a small couch being in a different location, the unit matched the pictures in the listing. But aside from that, there were problems.
These problems stemmed from confusing information, a lack of follow through on customer service, poor preparation, and a lack of communication. Details are below.
CHECK-IN
Upon booking the rental, the hosts texted me a list of information and directions, but the information was very wordy and sent as an image, which appears to be a screenshot of an Airbnb page. This information conflicted with much of what we encountered upon our arrival. The address on the listing didn’t match the information I was texted and when I checked in, I was instructed to go to an entirely different location. This was unnecessarily confusing and is probably a result of a small, but important typo on the listing page. I was provide with wifi login credentials by “check-in specialist” that were totally different from the information I was sent. Neither wifi accounts worked particularly well, so our group stuck to our cellular coverage for the weekend.
The directions/information the hosts sent me via text state that there would be a door code/one key FOB provided, indicating an either/or situation. The check-in specialist told me there was a door code and no FOB, which was a relief, but this just added to the overall shaky vibe I got upon checking in.
UNIT DAMAGE & OTHER ISSUES
Once we checked in and went into our unit, I immediately saw that a previous guest had nearly punched a hole the bedroom door. I immediately alerted the hosts to the damage and texted them a picture of it. A guest also had kicked in the bathroom door leaving a dent, which I also alerted the hosts to.
In the kitchen, I tried to open the dishwasher and found that it was stuck. Any attempt to pull it open resulted in pulling the entire dishwasher unit out. Suffice it to say we didn't use the dishwasher. Since there is no dish rack, there was no way to wash the few utensils we used.
The bathroom drain is extremely slow and there was only a quarter of a toilet paper roll and one additional roll provided. Considering our group consisted of four people staying four days and three nights, it's ridiculous to not have provided us with more. I reached out to the hosts to ask for more toilet paper and for someone to drop off some Drano to help clear out the bathroom sink was clogged and draining slowly. They apologized for the issues and told me someone would drop by to check it out.
Later in the day, a woman left me a voicemail. She didn't identify herself other than to say she was calling from Airbnb and told me to call back if I needed anything; I assumed she was calling on behalf of my host, but the woman didn’t make that clear. She didn't leave me a callback number either. No one came by to drop off toilet paper and the bathroom sink was still clogged. What kind of customer service is that?! My group resorted to buying our own toilet paper, which is still in the unit, and we ended up using the kitchen sink to brush our teeth and wash our faces. Ridiculous. At this point, I was tired of asking for help that I knew wouldn't come and it was already Saturday night and my group was leaving the next morning, so I didn't bother following up with the hosts after that and they never made any attempt to follow up with me other than to tell me let them know when I check out.
In terms of another small annoyance on top of everything else, it appeared that the some of the lamps in the living room didn't work. After laying on the ground and reaching for the surge suppressor, it turns out the suppressor was switched off. I turned it on and it was fine, but after everything else that we had to deal with, I was really annoyed by this otherwise small issue.
Wherever I stay, I naturally expect a space that is fully stocked and has working appliances and fixtures. And if there are issues, I expect the host/management to address those issues. That didn't happen here. And we paid an inflated Comic-Con price for our rental, so we're even more disappointed with our stay. The hosts were friendly and the space is okay, but the problems we experienced were a dark cloud over an otherwise great weekend.