This place is absolutely not worth the money. Do yourself a favor and save $900 and stay at a motel 6. We had countless grievances and tried our best to work with the host, but it was truly such a frustrating and disappointing experience.
1. When we arrived, a majority of the outlets and light fixtures did not work. We messaged the host on the app, to no response, and finally after calling her and patiently waiting for a solution, she waited until our second day to send an electrician to fix it. Not only did we have to have a stranger come into the apartment, but the electrician told us that it was improperly installed to begin with. The host admitted to us that previous tenants had also complained about the issues, which clearly they did not take the time to fix until we were extremely frustrated. On our 3rd day she brought a lamp to use.
2. Two of the bedrooms are shown on the floor plan to have balconies outside of their room, but it is NOT specified that the balconies are open to the public and not private to the apartment. The rooms do not have any other windows (the Arcadia doors do not have screens either), but beyond that in order to have any ventilation in the rooms, the doors must be open to the rest of the building. The balcony is next to the public stairs and elevator. As a safety issue we could not risk the doors being open. We would not have booked this property if we knew this. The apartment also does not have a/c, so not being able to keep the rooms ventilated with the doors added to the uncomfortable conditions to stay in.
3. The overall cleanliness of the apartment was not up to a normal airbnb standard, especially one charging this rate and listing itself as an “luxury apartment”. The apartment clearly had not been cleaned well from the previous tenant, the linens were in garbage bags in the rooms with no indication if they had been washed or not, the couches were filled with dirt and grime, the kitchen utensils and dishes did not look clean, and there were little to no cleaning supplies available in the property to help. The coffee maker (which is an amenity listed online) was unusable because of how dirty it was. The vacuums and hairdryers also barely worked or did not work at all.
4. There were ants in the kitchen and on the countertops - clearly an indication of the lack of cleanliness and maintenance.
5. The property had little to no supplies and linens compared to what is described on the listing. The listing claims to have linens, laundry detergent and more provided. For a reservation of 8 people for 4 days, there was only 3 rolls of toilet paper in the property. The host claimed that guests had been stealing TP during covid, but then claimed to pay us back since we had to go out and buy more to have for the rest of the stay. There were only one or two dish towels for a house full of (dirty) dishes, and there was no laundry detergent either, despite claiming it was all provided.
6. TV’s in the bedrooms did not work (they didn’t have the proper cables)
7. Pay attention to the descriptions. One of the bedrooms showed 2 full beds in the photos, but in actuality they took a futon couch and covered it with blankets to look like a full bed.
As people who have stayed in airbnb’s countless times, we are prepared for the typical standards that come with staying in an airbnb. Often times the pictures glamorize the property compared to what it actually is, but this is beyond frustrating. Beyond the blatant ignorance of the major electrical issues, this host clearly is not maintaining any cleanliness protocols. Especially during the current pandemic, this host is charging more for precaution yet providing guests with the same if not less standards for comfortability. We tried our best to communicate with the host but she did the minimum to make up for all the issues we experienced. Now as we've tried to ask for any compensation or partial refund, they've only offered to pay us back less than half of the cleaning fee. Which is absurd considering how little effort has gone into the cleaning at this place.