The apartment itself was pretty nice. It’s in a fun location, between Hillcrest and North Park, so lots of nearby restaurants and shops. The neighbors were quiet and the shared outdoor space was cute.
Unfortunately, when I arrived there was a squatter in the apartment. I immediately called the host and to her credit she had someone come over immediately to deal with the situation. Luckily I had friends staying nearby, so I went and hung out with them for a few hours while I waited for the situation to be resolved. I came back to the space at 11:30 PM and the squatter was still outside on the sidewalk with her dog and a LOT of stuff - clothing, food, bedding, etc. - despite me being told she’d gotten an Uber and left the area. The amount of stuff she had with her makes me think she’d been there for a while. The cleaning person wasn’t finished with the apartment when I showed up, so I didn’t get the place to myself until after midnight. I asked the host if she would change the door code because I didn’t feel comfortable knowing someone was out there with the code, and she told me to just lock the deadbolt of the screen. That’s fine for while I was in the apartment, but I didn’t feel safe leaving my valuables there when I was out during the day. I also had a hard time sleeping because I was nervous someone might try to get back in.
All in all the trip was kinda tough. I appreciated how quickly the host responded to the situation, but the fact there was a squatter at all means they didn’t clean the apartment before my arrival. I was also disappointed that they didn’t change the door code or offer me any sort of compensation or refund for that day, seeing as how I didn’t get to actually check in till midnight. Hopefully they can figure out a way to keep their rentals secure in the future.