Overall Mark's place was great. The pictures accurately represented the apartment, the neighborhood was quiet but lively with bars/restaurants a few short blocks over, and there were no major issues with the apartment itself. Only complaint about the apartment would be a few corners of the place were a little humid/warm but the bedroom/living room where we spent most of our time was fine. There was a central AC that worked decently but also a large purifier/AC unit in the living room itself. The shower wasn't ideal, it was really small and the head was low on the wall. I'm just over 6 foot and had problems with it but if I wanted waterfalls cascading into a spa I would've rented a room at a resort. Some of the drywall in the house wasn't perfect but I also didn't rent the apartment thinking it was going to be a palace - thus it didn't affect my star rating.
The only thing that kept me from giving 5 stars, was the initial check-in experience. I'll be fair and prelude this short recount of my experience with the fact Mark later said his, "Phone was unavailable most of the day because he was in the mountains." However, upon arriving to the unit after the check-in time of 3pm, I realized I never got a text explaining how to access the apartment. Usually you receive that type of text about an hour prior to check-in. I texted Mark to ask him where the keys were and sat in my car to wait for a response. About 30 minutes went by, I called, texted - nothing. After about 45 minutes had passed I knocked on the door, called him again, and just decided to try and open the door to the place out of frustration. To my surprise it was unlocked. I thought maybe that's just how he did things and there would be a note with instructions on the counter, but once again - nothing. I think about 2 hours later I finally got a text telling me what the code for the lockbox was. It was a little nerve-racking until then wondering if things were gonna work out or not. The next morning he sent a longer text apologizing for the check-in confusion and all was well.
I still gave this place a good rating based off the neighborhood, price, and friendliness of the host. The check-in was pretty frustrating but I realize things happen sometimes and it appears based off of other reviews, this is not a common problem with this host.