We stayed in this Air BnB in the last week of April in 2022 and here's a detailed breakdown of our experience.
If you don't want to read the whole review, here's a quick 30-second version:
Clean apartment, Great Location, Offers parking.
Not stocked with all amenities in kitchen or bathroom, very poor lighting, no privacy between rooms, terrible and shady check-in process - requires you to go to a far off location just to pick up keys. This could have easily been avoided if they hadn't been illegally subletting this apartment for an Air BnB.
Didn't really feel like we got our money's worth at all especially since it cost us $400+ per night to stay here.
(Advertised price is $300 but there are other service and cleaning fees that get added before you book bringing the total up)
Detailed Review:
The good:
1. The apartment was very clean and it was in a good location.
It was walking distance from the Gas Lamp Quarter and a less than $10 Lyft ride away from many sightseeing places in Downtown San Diego. We were at SD to attend a conference and this Air BnB was very close to our conference venues.
2. The beds were comfortable, the bathrooms were big and clean.
They provided towels, also utensils in the kitchen (plates, glasses, knives, cooking pots), cleaning supplies etc.
The bad:
1. We were under the impression that they would have a well stocked pantry - not a full fledged store of course, but we were hoping they would have at least the basic condiments like salt, pepper, and butter.
Also, there was no soap or shampoo, just one big bottle of lotion in only one bathroom.
2. The lighting in this apartment was very bad. They were very very dim, could barely see anything - and no, it wasn't dim in a "romantic" way either. It was so difficult to see anything without turning all the lights on and moving around this one portable lamp they had in the living room.
3. There is no privacy for any of the bedrooms. They don't have actual doors, just full glass sliding doors. You can still see through the blinds and hear everything between the rooms. It was very inconvenient and felt very open and exposed.
The terrible:
1. The check-in process was THE WORST and VERY SHADY.
So, when you read about this listing and it's rules and when they send you the rules right after you book this place, it only mentions that you are requested to not mention that you are staying in an Air BnB as some of the residents aren't comfortable with having an Air BnB in this building.
But right before your stay, they send you a detailed pdf with instructions which only then communicates the level of shadiness with which they're subletting this for an Air BnB.
It also contains detailed instructions for picking up the keys from a lockbox that is far away from the apartment.
This was the MOST INCONVENIENT thing I've ever encountered when staying at an Air BnB.
The lockbox was located in a very shady area in SD. My friend and I took the bus to get there but if we had Ubered there, it would have easily cost us an extra $25-$30. Why should we have to pay the extra cost when we're already paying so much for the Air BnB?! And did I mention just how SHADY this process and that place was in some random parking lot?! It easily added an extra half hour to our check-in process. It just wasn't worth the hassle.
2. They don't offer flexible check-in hours.
Check-in is at 4pm. I understand this is pretty standard practice and they need time to clean the apartment but if they could offer a bag drop off service, that would have been great. We had some friends staying in another Air BnB close by so we got to drop off our bags there, but it was a hassle to go to the lockbox, pick up the key, go to our friend's place, pick up the luggage, and then go to our Air BnB. We were basically just going all over the place just to check-in.
Although it was a clean apartment in a convenient location, we walked away feeling like we overpayed and staying in hotel would have been much more comfortable and convenient. People usually pick Air BnBs because they are cheaper than hotels but offer the same comfort, but this was the one time when we wished we could have just stayed at a hotel, especially since we payed hotel-prices.