I stayed here for about 2 weeks so I’m going to leave an honest review.
Bedroom:
I stayed in bedroom #2 with the Amy Winehouse picture. The room is large enough for 2 persons being that there is a bed and a large futon. There are hangars in the closet but I didn’t use the closet. There is a desk you can use for studying or working. There was a dead water bug under my bed that I communicated with the host about and sent a picture. It was never cleaned up, which leads me to believe that prior to turning the room over to a new guest, they do not properly clean or inspect the room fully. That’s a simple fix though.
Bathroom:
The bathroom door looks punched in a bit. That’s the first thing I noticed. The shower water gets hot, which I love, and the water pressure is good. The shower part is updated but the sink and cabinet are not which I was not fond of. The cabinet and some of the paint on the wall is chipped away. Sometimes the toilet was not clean to my liking but keep in mind, you are sharing the bathroom with other guests. I communicated with the host about it being cleaned and someone came and cleaned it. The bathroom was cleaned pretty regularly after that.
Other Guests:
This is the type of place where your guests can make your stay 10x worse. I don’t like dirty people and some of the guests were downright disgusting. I’ve seen hair in the sink, hair on the floor, skid marks on the toilet, urine on and in the toilet seat, dirty dishes in the sink & so much more! These are things that are honestly out of the hosts control and because there’s only one bathroom in the unit for 4+ people to share. I couldn’t make out the source of the filth. For the first day or so I didn’t hear much noise but after that, it was loud throughout the rest of time being. I was in room 2 which is upstairs and I heard the other guest(s) across from me when they would leave/enter their room (because they would close the door hard) or when they would come up or down the stairs (because the stairs creek)…which seemed to be 1000 times a day. Very odd. There’s so much in-and-out that I can’t tell who is a resident and who is there to clean or restock something.
Neighborhood:
Southeast DC gets a bad reputation but honestly you won’t run into any issues in this area. It’s obviously not the most visually appealing but it’s doable. I rode city bikes (CaBi) through this area with no problem as well as walked to the train station.
Cleanliness:
The bathroom wasn’t as clean as I’d like it to be. Someone will clean it at your request though. Definitely bring shower shoes. I’m going to give my room a 1/5 in cleanliness solely based on the waterbug. I communicated it once and left it at that. I’m sure if I said something twice they’d attended to it but I’m not fond of repeating myself. There was also a strong odd/stale smell in the upstairs.
Kitchen:
The kitchen was clean to my liking for the most part. Besides the fridge, I didn’t use the kitchen at all. No one touched my food or beverages and there are rules on the fridge prohibiting guests from doing so…that was a very nice touch. Some of the guests left dishes in the sink, again that has nothing to do with the host(s).
Access:
Getting in the house and room is easy. Guests do leave the door unlocked though, which I hate because there are other guests staying here and literally anyone could walk in. I guess common sense isn’t common though.
Air Conditioner:
If you’re not sitting directly in front of the AC in the room, you’re not going to feel it. I sat in the chair, located in the room, and would sit next to the AC while I worked so that was fine. I like to have AC on while I go to bed. Not only could I not feel it on me but it does a poor job of cooling off the entire room. Luckily at night things cool off so it wasn’t a huge problem. There’s tape on the hose to keep it in the window but it fell out. Luckily it fell the day before check out. I communicated that with the host for them to resolve and I believe they did.
Host Communication:
The host communicates fine and pretty quickly at that. Outside of the waterbug in the room they acknowledged and addressed every other thing I brought to their attention.
Additional Comments:
Overall I’d say, if you’re looking for a super affordable stay and you plan on being gone all hours of the day and just want to come back to a place to sleep, this can work. If you’re looking for comfortability, something modern/renovated and cozy where you can lounge for hours at a time, this isn’t it. I just needed somewhere to stay for 2 weeks while my apartment was being prepared so I made it work. Given the chance again though, I would’ve spent the additional funds for at least a private bathroom. I think this place could be perfect though if they took some time to renovate the place to make it more modern and private and reduced the number of guests they allow in at one time.