I lived in in this particular room for about 2 years and think that for the price you pay in DC and its proximity to the locations I needed, it is considered acceptable. However, there are many things that need to be brought up for improvement. Since I was on a tight budget, I made it work with the understanding that “you get what you pay for”.
First and foremost, this place should not be listed as an Airbnb; rather, it should just be listed as a room for rent on Craigslist. Of all the Airbnbs I’ve stayed at, this place lacks most of the requirements of a standard motel/hotel. The cleanliness was by far subpar. The fans were so dusty that turning it on covered the entire bed and floor, making it so hard to breathe. The picture frames collected so much dust and the windows were extremely dirty. It took a few weeks to clear the dust and this place had no cleaning equipment readily available for guests. The next concerning thing was when the pillow covers and mattress sheets were removed, it was completely yellow, stained, and smelled awful. Since this place lacks a washer and dryer, I had to go out of my way to wash the pillows and sheets. Since this property is shared with about 7 random people, all the shared spaces such as the bathrooms and kitchen were extremely filthy. When I first moved in, there was cleaning for shared spaces about once every month or so. However, it slowly transitioned to once every 3-4 months, making it extremely filthy. What made it worst was that no cleaning supplies were supplied, so expect to buy your own hand soap, dish soap, towels, wipes, mops, vacuums, trash bags, toilet paper, etc - all of which may or may not be stolen or used by other random guests.
My other concern was the lack of basic comfort and hospitality. This room does not have AC. Given the hot and humid summers, I had to purchase and set up my own portable AC which was not reimbursed. I left the AC unit there for the sake of future guests but don’t expect central cooling for the room. The one thing that I did appreciate was that since all the mattresses were very old and hurt my back, John did eventually purchase a new mattress so it should be clean and new for now. Although it says that the kitchen is fully equipped, expect to buy your own pots/utensils because the current ones are extremely dirty and worn out. I purchased a set out of my own pocket to help everyone out. Over time, I stopped using the kitchen because half the stoves don’t work, the oven does not work, and the roof near the kitchen space kept leaking water from the bathroom above - leading to cracking and tears in the ceiling, making it unsafe and unsanitary to cook.
This is by no means to bash - but rather, to give fair expectations to guests. In summary, you get what you pay for and considering that, this place was bearable. However, cleanliness and comfort should never be compromised regardless of the price for Airbnb guests.