Let’s start with the positive.
1. Our host Dejah was very kind and understanding, when we were able to reach him (more on that later), and fulfilled most of our requests (although some of them could’ve been anticipated; again, more on this later). He even brought flowers to brighten up the apartment.
2. Location and value for money. The apartment is ~20 mins drive away from the downtown and most of San Diego’s attractions, while still being reasonably priced. If you need a base camp while exploring the area, this property would work very nicely.
3. Space. It’s a full-sized apartment, 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and a large living room/kitchen space, which can double as a 3rd bedroom. There is even sort of a nook between kitchen and master bedroom that could be used as a temporary office (which, as it happens, we needed). Washer and dryer came in handy as well. Perfect for a family of 4, even if the kids need separate rooms.
4. Kitchen. There’s a full kitchen, and we were able to cook most of our morning and evening meals there. There are no small appliances (coffee machine, toaster etc.), but that’s as advertised.
5. Pool. This is probably the main attraction, which would be hard to find in other comparable rentals. The apartment complex has a pool + hot tub, which are located right next door to the building, in which this apartment is situated. They could be used by all the residents of the complex (of which there are probably several hundred), but in reality we never saw more than 2 people there, besides ourselves, at the same time, so we were able to relax in relative privacy in the evenings. The pool is warm and clean. In addition, the common area also contains a gym and a barbecue grill, but we haven’t used those (but seen others do so).
6. There’s a big and comfortable bean bag in the apartment, a nice touch.
Now to the not so positive:
1. Unfortunately, Dejah is not very responsive. We were checking in very late due to a late flight (I had let Dejah know in advance), and the instructions that he provided for finding the apartment were not very clear, as apartment complexes can be confusing. Even though misunderstanding the instructions was mostly my fault, this could’ve been easily fixed if Dejah answered my messages when I found myself unable to find the property. As it was, however, I didn’t get a response to the messages sent via AirBnb, and I couldn’t call Dejah, as he hadn’t posted his phone number as a part of the listing, which resulted in a couple of hours of wandering around the complex and waiting in the parking lot. We had only been able to finally check in around 2am.
2. Although the apartment is generally clean, it clearly had not been cleaned properly after the previous visitors. Some of the stuff they had left, as well as other traces of their presence (some of them rather unpleasant), were still there when we moved in.
3. The apartment initially lacked some basic things. For example, the living room couch could be used as a bed (and we were very much counting on it), but there were no bedsheets for it, and so our host had to come in the middle of the night (see #1) to provide these. Likewise, there were no spare linens for other beds, and not enough towels. As I mentioned, there’s a kitchen, including a countertop that can double as a table, but there were no chairs. Some basic cleaning supplies (hand soap, shower gel, shampoo) were missing too. To be fair, Dejah had brought most of the initially missing stuff within 48 hours after the check in, but still, we expected these things to be there in the first place.
4. The bed in the 2nd bedroom, which is described as a “small double bed” is, in reality, a kids bed, too short for an adult or a teenager. It’s also very low and not especially comfortable, due to protruding iron planks. Fortunately, our youngest was small enough to fit there, otherwise I don’t know how we would solve the sleeping arrangement situation. The bed in the master bedroom was better, but planks kept falling out, and we had to put them back in several times.